Kookaburra

Kookaburras

These birds live in forests.

Their feathers are brown, black, white and blue.

They eat snakes, lizards, frogs and fish.

Their call sounds like they are laughing.

Kookaburra are part of the group of birds called kingfishers. Kookaburras live in woodlands and open forests.

Kookaburras have short, thick bodies, large heads and long bills. Their feathers are brown, black or white. There are blue patches on some of the feathers. Males and females look similar.

Food
Kookaburras eat insects, small snakes, lizards, frogs and fish, as well as earthworms, crayfish, rodents (reats and mice) as well as an occasional small bird.

A kookaburra kills its prey by bashing it against a perch. The kookaburra runs its meal back and forth in its beak to soften any bones. Then it throws its head back and swallows. Bones and other bits that it can't digest are later brought up as a food pellet.

Kookaburras make a laughing call, most often in the early morning and just before dark. The calls let other kookaburras know where each one lives. An Aboriginal legend says that the kookaburra's laugh is a signal to the sky spirits to light the great fire, the sun, in the morning and to put it out at night.

Breeding
After mating, the female kookaburra lays up to 4 eggs in a hole in a tree. The male and the female take turns to sit on the eggs until they hatch, about 25 days later. Both parents feed their chicks. Adult birds swallow food and then bring it back up again when it is mushy and feed it to the chicks. As the chicks grow they can be fed small worms or slugs or similar small food which they learn to eat like adults do. Then they have to learn how to find the food for themselves.
The young kookaburras have feathers after about one month. They leave the nest soon after that.

Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham and Thomas, Kookaburras. [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au(2008)

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