Identification: White head with dark brown lines over crown and through eyes. The wings and shoulders are brown with light blue tips. Tail is rufous barred dark brown and the underbody is a dull white.

Call/Song: Makes six different calls including chuckles and longer calls. Gains its name from its long, rollicking laugh, koo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo- haa-haa-haa-haa, usually sung in chorus.

Originally inhabited eastern Australia, from Cape York to south- eastern South Australia, but has also been introduced to Western Australia and Tasmania.

Habitat:Found in woodlands and open forest as well as urban areas.

Feeding: Not being fussy, the kookaburra will eat whatever suitable food it can find, including snakes, lizards, rodents, insects and other invertebrates.

Breeding/Nesting: Kookaburras form permanent pairs and take a long time to rear their young.

Movement: Spends most of its time perched in a vantage point searching for prey. 
 

Photo: Glenn Threlflo

Other Common Names: Jackass. 

Status: Common.

Distribution: Mostly found perching on electrical lines or on dead branches in open, lightly timbered areas.

Abundance:Common

Queensland Museum (1995) Wildlife of Greater Brisbane, Queensland Museum, Brisbane.

Reader's Digest Services (1979) Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds, Surry Hills, NSW.

Nielsen, L (1991) Birds of Lamington National Park and Envrions, Beudesert Times, Queensland.