Kookaburras, known as the Laughing Jackasses of Australia, and are from the family of Kingfishers. Kookaburras are 17 inches in height, the upper parts dark brown, the wings spotted gray-blue. A white band separates the head from the body. The strong bill is black.
The Kookaburra's rolling, laughing call is one of the best-known sounds in the animal world as they go to roost in the treetops at dusk, and again wake everyone within hearing just as dawn breaks, so regularly and are known as the "bushman's clock."
Australians value the Kookaburra, for its habit of feeding on snakes and lizards. The Kookaburra seizes snakes behind the head and kills them by dropping them from a height, or else carries them to a perch and batters them senseless with its big bill before swallowing them.
Less welcome is their fondness for the young of other birds, and its occasional raids on farmyards for ducklings and baby chicks.
Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario
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