Kookaburra Facts

About the kookaburra

The five kookaburra species are spread over Australia, New Guinea and the nearby Aru Islands. They grow 28 to 47 cm (11 to 19 in) long and weigh around 300 g. Despite being kingfishers, they rarely eat fish and do not depend on water. Their habitats run from humid forest to dry savanna and suburbs with tall trees. The name comes from the Wiradjuri word guuguubarra, which imitates the call.

Hunting is a waiting game. A kookaburra perches on a power line or low branch, then swoops to grab prey with its strong beak. Small catches go down whole, and bigger ones get bashed against a tree or the ground first. The menu is nearly all meat: snakes, lizards, frogs, beetles, rodents and worms. Most species defend territories, often singing together as a chorus to mark them.

Did you know?

• In blue-winged and rufous-bellied kookaburras, the males sport blue tails while females carry reddish-brown ones.
• The genus name Dacelo is a scrambled spelling of alcedo, Latin for kingfisher.
• Feeding kookaburras ground beef is a bad idea because it lacks calcium and roughage.