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.)

Lunch snatching Kookaburras

Laughing Kookaburra Lane Cove National Park Sydney

 Earlier this week I wrote about one of our visits to Sydney earlier this year. During one of our breaks from looking after our grandchildren, ages 8 and 5, we drove across town to the Lane Cove National Park. This lovely park is only a quick ten-minute drive from my son's home. The main feature of this park is the Lane Cove River flowing through it. Houses and commercial areas crowd in on the park on all sides, but the remnant bushland still maintains a good variety of native Australian plants, birds and other wildlife such as reptiles, insects, and turtles. Delightful picnic areas have been provided by the park's staff.

Speaking of turtles, on this particular visit we set up our folding chairs, opened up our picnic lunch boxes and were about to eat lunch. My attention was drawn to several Long-necked Turtles sitting on a log near the water's edge. I handed my binoculars to my wife so that she could have a closer look at them sunning themselves on the log.

Long-necked Turtles on a log, Lane Cove River

As soon as she had taken the binoculars, a Laughing Kookaburra swooped out of a nearby gum tree. It flew down to her chair and snatched a part of her sandwich sitting on the table on the side of her chair. It flew off a few metres with its booty, settling on the grass nearby to eat my wife's lunch (see photos). It was immediately joined by another kookaburra who claimed its share of the food.

In an ironic twist to this tale, we saw plaques attached to all of the picnic tables in this park. The rangers had placed these notices for all visitors to read. "Please do not feed the birds and animals," they said - or words to that effect. perhaps they should add a notice for the wildlife: "Please do not snatch human food."

For more stories about and photos of Australian birds, visit my other site Trevor's Birding.

Laughing Kookaburra Lane Cove National Park Sydney

Australia Day birds

Male Emu and chicks

Today is Australia Day, a time where we celebrate the European settlement of this great land of ours. In a simple way I want to celebrate the day by showing some well-known and well-loved Australian birds.

The photos featured today include:

• Emu (above) - the male Emu hatches the eggs and cares for the chicks for up to 18 months.
• Galah (below) - probably our best known parrot, and a favourite as a pet.
• Australian Magpie (below) - a common bird in gardens, parks and in rural landscapes.
• Laughing Kookaburra (below) - the call of the Kookaburra is known throughout the land and is iconic of the Australian bush - and increasingly suburbia as well.

You can see more photos and read more about Australian birds on my other site called Trevor's Birding. 

Laughing Kookaburra

On a family visit to Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney this member of the kingfisher family, a Laughing Kookaburra, posed beautifully for my camera. The call of the kookaburra is synonymous with the Australian bush.

To read more about Australian birds and to see more photos of them click here.