Laughing Kookaburra

Dacelo novaeguineae

Family: Alcedinidae (Alcedinid Kingfishers, 10 species in Australia)
Size: 45 cm
Distribution: Most of Eastern Australia plus small parts of WA and NT
Status: Common
Habitat: Open forests, woodlands
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

One of the most famous of all Australian birds.

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Photo: Australia Zoo QLD

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (1870 x 2944)

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Photo: Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Photo: West Head, Kuring-gai Chase National Park NSW

The photo below shows a juvenile Laughing Kookaburra.

Juvenile Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Juvenile Laughing Kookaburra. Photo: WIRES, Blue Mountains NSW

Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

Know Your Birds, by Louise Egerton - Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae NEW: Know Your Birds, by Louise Egerton.

Revised edition 3 July 2019. Paperback / softback, 176 pages. It has an orange cover. The original edition was 2005 and has a blue cover. Some of the book sellers listed here show the photo from the original/older blue cover edition, but the rest of the info (including the publication date and ISBN) are from the newer revised 2019 edition, so presumably that's the one you'll get.

This book has very high quality large photographs of the birds (as in actual photographs). Most of the photos take up a whole page for each bird photograph. "Know Your Birds" only has a selection of the most common birds, and not all the birds that are found in Australia. This makes it very good for beginners — since most of the field guides have all the birds — and it can be confusing looking at six almost identical species of birds, not knowing that five of them are rare and it's probably the common one that you're looking for. Which would be the only one listed in this book.

Purchase from Australia (The Nile)

Purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Purchase from Amazon.com.au (Australian Site)

See Also

Australian Bird Field Guides

Return to Australian Birds
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Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae

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