"At daylight came a hideous chorus of fiendish laughter, as if the infernal regions had been broken loose...'' C. H. Eden, 1872The kookaburra, a medium sized [18''] member of the kingfisher family whose diet consists of lizards, mice, insects & snakes. I've seen them bat round a decent sized snake before eating it.
Here has a link where you can hear the *fiendish laughter*. They are pretty common all over & despite the formidable size of their beak it doesn't really hurt to be bitten by one. We get a fair few birds braining themselves on our big glass windows, including these fellas. I run a rescue mission before Issi, our cat, can make up his mind to eat them. He knows he's not allowed & because he hesitates he's lost.
They are pretty social birds & not afraid to congregate around humans. They also mate for life & like rainbow bee~eaters the young of one season help raise the next lot of chicks so it is not uncommon to see family groups. They weigh about a pound so a group of these rattling around on a t.v antenna is not good news!
2 comments:
Thanks! I didn't know it was a bird in that song. I couldn't hear the 'laugh'.
Aww, they mate for life, too? How sweet is that! You live in a veritable wildlife wonderland!
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