Kookaburra

{{short description|Genus of birds (terrestrial tree kingfishers)}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Dacelo novaeguineae waterworks.jpg

| image_caption = Laughing kookaburra in Tasmania, Australia File:LaughingKookaburra.ogg

| taxon = Dacelo

| authority = Leach, 1815

| type_species = Alcedo gigantea

| type_species_authority = Hermann, 1783

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = * Dacelo gaudichaud

}}

{{cladogram|title=Phylogeny

|caption=Cladogram based on the molecular analysis by Andersen and colleagues published in 2017.{{ cite journal | last1=Andersen | first1=M.J. | last2=McCullough | first2=J.M. | last3=Mauck III | first3=W.M. | last4=Smith | first4=B.T. | last5=Moyle | first5=R.G. | year=2017 | title=A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands | journal=Journal of Biogeography | volume= 45| issue= 2| pages=1–13 | doi=10.1111/jbi.13139 | doi-access= }}

|clades={{clade| style=font-size:90%;line-height:100%;width:280px

|label1=Dacelo

|1={{clade

|1=Spangled kookaburra

|2=Shovel-billed kookaburra (Clytoceyx rex)

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Rufous-bellied kookaburra

|2={{clade

|1=Laughing kookaburra

|2=Blue-winged kookaburra

}}

Kookaburras (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ʊ|k|ə|b|ʌ|r|ə}}){{Cite LPD|2|page=423}}{{Cite OED|term=kookaburra|id=5381999672}} are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between {{convert|28|and|47|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length and weigh around {{convert|300|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. The loud, distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies.{{source?|date=May 2024}}

They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savannah, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. Though they belong to the larger group known as "kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water.{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=Ken|title=Field guide to the birds of Australia: a book of identification|date=1989|publisher=Christopher Helm|page=317}}

Taxonomy

The genus Dacelo was introduced by English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815.{{cite book | last=Leach’s

| first=William Elford | author-link=William Elford Leach | year=1815 | title=The Zoological Miscellany; being descriptions of new, or interesting Animals | volume=2 | place=London | publisher=B. McMillan for E. Nodder & Son | page=125 | url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28685516 }} The type species is the laughing kookaburra.{{cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 5 | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=189 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480200 }} The name Dacelo is an anagram of alcedo, the Latin word for a kingfisher.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n130 130]}} A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus Dacelo, as then defined, was paraphyletic. The shovel-billed kookaburra was previously classified in the monotypic genus Clytoceyx, but was reclassified into Dacelo based on phylogenetic evidence.

Classification and species

Five species of kookaburra can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands:{{Cite web |title=Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/rollers/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=www.worldbirdnames.org}}

{{Species table |genus= Dacelo |authority-name=Leach|authority-year= 1815 |species-count=five|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Shovel-billed kookaburra |binomial=Dacelo rex

|image=File:Shovel-billed Kingfisher.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Sharpe |authority-year=1880 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= upland New Guinea

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size= {{convert|33|cm|in|abbr=on}} long

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Spangled kookaburra |binomial=Dacelo tyro

|image=File:Spangled Kookaburra.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Gray |authority-year=1858 |authority-not-original=

|range= Aru Islands, southern New Guinea

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size={{convert|33|cm|in|abbr=on}} long

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| D. t. archboldi (Rand, 1938)

| D. t. tyro (Gray, GR, 1858)

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Rufous-bellied kookaburra |binomial=Dacelo gaudichaud

|image=File:Rufous-bellied Kookaburra (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Gaimard|authority-year= 1823 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= lowland New Guinea

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Laughing kookaburra |binomial=Dacelo novaeguineae

|image=File:Dacelo novaeguineae - Knocklofty.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Hermann|authority-year=1783 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= native to eastern Australia, introduced to southwest

|range-image=File:Distribution laughing kookaburra.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| D. n. novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783)

| D. n. minor (Robinson, 1900)

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Blue-winged kookaburra |binomial=Dacelo leachii

|image=File:Blue-winged Kookaburra, Kakadu NP 5993.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Vigors & Horsfield |authority-year=1827 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= northern Australia, southern New Guinea

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

The laughing and blue-winged species are direct competitors in the area where their ranges now overlap.{{cite web |title=Kookaburra, Dacelo sp. Factsheet (Bibliography) |url=http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/kookaburra/kookaburra.html |access-date=23 Jan 2017 |website=San Diego Zoo |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043538/http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/kookaburra/kookaburra.html |url-status=dead }} This suggests that these two species evolved in isolation, possibly during a period when Australia and New Guinea were more distant.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

The Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay and Wiradjuri people named this bird “guuguubarra”. It is native to the eastern mainland part of Australia. {{Cite news |title=Why the kookaburra's iconic laugh is at risk of being silenced |url=https://theconversation.com/why-the-kookaburras-iconic-laugh-is-at-risk-of-being-silenced-208181 |date=17 April 2024|periodical=The Conversation}}

Kookaburras are sexually dimorphic. This is noticeable in the blue-winged and the rufous-bellied, where males have blue tails and females have reddish-brown tails.

Behaviour

File:Kookaburra close-up.jpg

Kookaburras are almost exclusively carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles, and the young of other birds. Unlike many other kingfishers, they rarely eat fish, although they have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. In zoos, they are usually fed food suitable for birds of prey.

Although most birds will accept handouts and take meat from barbecues, feeding kookaburras ground beef or pet food is not advised, because they do not include enough calcium and roughage.{{cite web |url = http://www.birdcare.asn.au/pdf/kookas.pdf |title = Caring for Wild Birds in Captivity Series (Adelaide and Environs): Caring for Kookaburras |date=1994 |access-date=26 August 2015 |publisher=Bird Care & Conservation Society South Australia Inc |last=Giles|first=Jennie |archive-date = 29 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529052140/http://www.birdcare.asn.au/pdf/kookas.pdf |url-status=dead}}

= Hunting =

Kookaburras are usually seen waiting for their prey on powerlines or low tree branches. When they see their prey they dive down and grab them with their strong beak. If the prey is small it will be eaten whole, but if the prey is larger then the kookaburra bashes it against a tree or the ground to make it softer and easier to eat.{{Cite web |title=Our Wildlife Factsheet - Laughing Kookaburra |publisher=Government of Victoria |website=wildlife.vic.gov.au |url=https://www.wildlife.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/91389/Laughing-Kookaburra.pdf }}

They are territorial, except for the rufous-bellied, which often live with their young from the previous season.{{cite book |last=Legge |first=Sarah |title=Kookaburra: King of the Bush |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-643-09063-7 |location=Collingwood, Victoria |oclc=223994691}} They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

= Diet =

A Kookaburra's diet includes lizards, snakes, frogs, rodents, beetles, worms, bugs, and other small animals. Kookaburras do not feed on tree gum as depicted in a popular song.

= Habitat =

They live in sclerophyll woodland and open forests, in almost any area with trees large enough to hold the nests and open patches with hunting areas. The kookaburras are declining in population because of predators, lack of prey, and the environment.

Conservation

All kookaburra species are listed as least concern. Australian law protects native birds, including kookaburras.{{Cite web |title=BirdLife Data Zone |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/quicksearch?qs=kookaburra |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=datazone.birdlife.org}}

In popular culture

File:Spangled Kookaburra.jpg]]

The distinctive sound of the laughing kookaburra's call resembles human laughter, is widely used in filmmaking and television productions, as well as certain Disney theme-park attractions, regardless of African, Asian, or South American jungle settings. Kookaburras have also appeared in several video games, including (Lineage II, Battletoads, and World of Warcraft). The children's television series Splatalot! includes an Australian character called "Kookaburra" (or "Kook"), whose costume includes decorative wings that recall the bird's plumage, and who is noted for his distinctive, high-pitched laugh. Olly the Kookaburra was one of the three mascots chosen for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The other mascots were Millie the Echidna and Syd the Platypus. The call of a kookaburra nicknamed "Jacko" was for many years used as the morning opening theme by ABC radio stations, and for Radio Australia's overseas broadcasts.{{cite web |author=Jerry Berg |title=Jacko, the Broadcasting Kookaburra |url=http://www.ontheshortwaves.com/Jacko.html |access-date=3 June 2017}}

=Book=

The opening theme from ABC was the basis for a children's book by Brooke Nicholls titled Jacko, the Broadcasting Kookaburra — His Life and Adventures.{{Cite book |last=Nicholls |first=Brooke |title=Jacko, the Broadcasting Kookaburra — His Life and Adventures |publisher=Angus & Robertson |year=1933}}
In William Arden's 1969 book, The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow (one of the Three Investigators series for young readers), the laughing kookaburra is integral to the plot.{{Cite book

|title=The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow

|last=Arden

|first=William

|authorlink=William Arden

|pages=164–166

|date=1969

|publisher=Random House

|location=New York

|isbn=9780394914923

}}

=Film=

File:Newly hatched chicks of Australian Laughing Kookaburra.jpg

Heard in some of the early Johnny Weissmuller films, the first occurrence was in Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938).{{Cite web|last=Melissa|date=2013-08-27|title=Of Tarzan and Kookaburras|url=http://soundandthefoley.com/2013/08/27/of-tarzan-and-kookaburras/|access-date=2023-02-07|website=The Sound and the Foley|language=en-US}}
The call is heard in The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Cape Fear (1962), The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and other films.{{Cite web|last=Melissa|date=2013-05-30|title=That Jungle Sound|url=http://soundandthefoley.com/2013/05/30/that-jungle-sound/|access-date=2023-02-07|website=The Sound and the Foley|language=en-US}}
The dolphin call in the television series Flipper (1964-7) is a modified kookaburra call.{{Cite news|last=Arthur|first=Nicole|date=2003-01-31|title=Day of the Dolphin|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/01/31/day-of-the-dolphin/493063d2-ef69-42d5-952a-73e7a8b4c20b/|access-date=2023-02-07|issn=0190-8286}}

=Music=

File:Blue-winged kookaburra arp.jpg]]

"Kookaburra [sits in the old gum tree]", a well-known children's song, was written in 1932 by Marion Sinclair.

=Postage stamps=

File:Australia-Stamp-1946 BCOF Wartime Overprint.jpg kookaburra stamp first issued in 1946.]]

A six-pence ({{inflation|AU|0.05|1914|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} stamp was issued in 1914.
A three-pence ({{inflation|AU|0.025|1928|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} commemorative Australian stamp was issued for the 1928 Melbourne International Philatelic Exhibition.
A six-pence ({{inflation|AU|0.05|1932|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} stamp was issued in 1932.
A 38¢ ({{inflation|AU|0.38|1990|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} Australian stamp issued in 1990 features a pair of kookaburras.{{Cite web|title=Birds on stamps: Australia Australië Australie|url=http://www.birdtheme.org/country/austral.html|access-date=2023-02-07|website=www.birdtheme.org}}
An international $1.70 ({{inflation|AU|1.70|2013|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} Australian stamp featuring an illustrated kookaburra was released in 2013.
A $1.10 ({{inflation|AU|1.10|2020|r=2|fmt=eq}}){{inflation/fn|AU}} laughing kookaburra stamp issued in 2020.

=Money=

File:Reverse of two ounce Kookaburra proof coin from the Perth mint.jpg

An Australian coin known as the Silver Kookaburra has been minted annually since 1990.{{cite web | url=http://www.silverbullionworld.com/kookaburra.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313031850/http://www.silverbullionworld.com/kookaburra.html | url-status=usurped | archive-date=13 March 2009 | title=Australian Kookaburra | publisher=Silver Bullion World | access-date=4 November 2013}}
The kookaburra is featured multiple times on the Australian twenty-dollar note.

=Usage across sport=

The Australian 12-m yacht Kookaburra III lost the America's Cup in 1987.{{Cite web |url=http://www.shipsonstamps.org/topics/html/amcup.htm |title=Maritime Topics On Stamps, America Cup, Sailing |access-date=2008-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608183022/http://www.shipsonstamps.org/Topics/html/amcup.htm |archive-date=2008-06-08 |url-status=dead }}
The Australia men's national field hockey team is nicknamed after the kookaburra. They were world champions in field hockey in 1986, 2010 and 2014.{{Cite web|date=2014-06-26|title=Kookaburras (men)|url=http://hockey.org.au/National-Teams/Kookaburras-men/Kookaburras/Social-Hub|access-date=2023-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626030920/http://hockey.org.au/National-Teams/Kookaburras-men/Kookaburras/Social-Hub |archive-date=2014-06-26 }}
Australian sports equipment company Kookaburra Sport is named after the bird.

References

Bibliography

{{Cite book |author=Brooke Nicholls |date=1933 |title=Jacko—The Broadcasting Kookaburra: His Life and Adventures |url=https://archive.org/details/b1111769 |url-access=registration |others=Illustrations: Dorothy Wall |location=Sydney |publisher=Angus & Robertson |oclc=179238734}}