Laughing Kookaburras

Laughing Kookaburra

The Australian Laughing Kookaburra is probably one our most easily recognised birds. This large member of the kingfisher family is found in many parts of Australia and is easily identified by its rollicking, joyous call. The photos I have included in today's post were all taken on a recent holiday in Sydney.

My wife and I spent the whole of the April school holidays with our son and family. We were there to help look after our two grandchildren when they weren't at school. It's a tough gig - but we enjoyed it. Thankfully, they love going on picnics with Nanna and Grandad. Several times we drove the short distance to Lane Cove National Park. It was on these visits that I managed to take this series of photos.

Like many in the kingfisher family, these birds are often found near water courses. They are, however, also found far from water and we occasionally have them visit our garden at home which is about 4 km from a river. I was just checking my records a few days ago and it has been many years since a kookaburra visited our garden. 

There are many Laughing Kookaburras in the park where I took these photos. While they will take food provided by humans, this is strongly discouraged; there are signs on all the picnic tables stating this. This did not stop one of the kookaburras snatching our lunch. It took a sausage right off a hot barbeque plate! Cheeky bird.

Many Australians do not realise that we have two species of kookaburras. The other one is the Blue-winged Kookaburra of northern Australia. As yet I do not have a photo of that species. (Don't be confused by the blue on the wing of today's photos - the Blue-winged Kookaburra has a lot more blue on the wing.)