Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria.

Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria. , a photo by Leone Fabre on Flickr.

This little fellow is about to appear in the Wildlife Rescue Magazine! 

On one of our many visits to Blackwood (Victoria, Australia) we saw this cheeky Kookaburra.

Kookaburras are large to very large (total length 28-42 cm/11-17 in) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.

Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which is uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter — good-natured, if rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the well-known Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae); and maniacal cackling in the case of the slightly smaller Blue-winged Kookaburra . They are generally not closely associated with water, and can be found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, but also in suburban and residential areas near running water and where food can be searched for easily.

Kookaburras are carnivorous. They will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice and raw meat. The most social birds will accept handouts from humans and will take raw or cooked meat (even if at high temperature) from on or near open-air barbecues left unattended. It is generally not advised to feed the birds too regularly as meat alone does not include calcium and other nutrients essential to the bird. Remainders of mince on the bird's beak can fester and cause problems for the bird.

They are territorial, and often live with the partly grown chicks of the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory. They are also known to sit in gum trees.

In the wild, kookaburras are known to eat babies of other birds and snakes, and insects and small reptiles. In zoos, they are usually fed food for birds of prey, and dead baby chicks.

If you click on the above image it 'should' take you direct to my flickr site where you can view other images of this Kookaburra!