Laughing Kookaburra
Laughing Kookaburra
Dacelo novaeguineae
Aves
COMMON

Stats

Lifespan
10-20 yrs
Size
Medium
Diet
Carnivore
Activity
Diurnal
Social
Family Group
Biome
Temperate forest
Range
Australia
Movement
Flight
Breeding
Egg-laying
Defense
Speed
Status
Common

About

The Laughing Kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. Despite belonging to the kingfisher family it rarely fishes—instead ambushing snakes, lizards, and large insects from a perch with its powerful dagger bill, and greeting each dawn with its iconic booming call.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    egg
    A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
  2. 2.
    hatchling
    A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
  3. 3.
    juvenile
    A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
  4. 4.
    adult
    Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Coraciiformes
Family
Alcedinidae
Genus
Dacelo
Species
Dacelo novaeguineae