Kookaburra....amazing.

[LauraT]

Yesterday we met a gorgeous senior Kookaburra. He was not interested in us, but the minute his mom spoke to him, he lit right up and did his amazing Kookaburra call. What a beautiful little guy.

Laura

 

[greycloud]

They are cool birds! I have a friend that owns one.

 

[lexx510]

I had to look them up

Cute birds, indeed!

 

[PetoftheDay]

Since I saw even saw the thread title, the old song about them has been running through my head! Did you hear it laugh at all?

 

[LauraT]

! Did you hear it laugh at all?

Yes, what great laugh Truly amazing, it felt like we were in the jungle.

Laura

 

[caliopi]

Wow can I ask if that is an Aussie kookaburra? The reason I ask is that I think they are a protected species here, I do not think even Aussies are allowed to own them, could be wrong but I have never heard of them being kept as pets here.

 

[Oedipussrex]

us aussies can own them, but you need to pay a little for a licence so they can make sure we arent stealing them from the wild. *least thats the SA legislation
but if theres one in your backyard, they usually love a piece of fritz, we used to have one that always hung around XD

 

[caliopi]

Ok that makes sense I am sure the licence would be the same here in Victoria. We have them here quite often as we have a national park about 2kms up the road. It's gorgeous walking there early evening as the kangaroos are all heading to the water and the lorikeets are coming in to roost for the night. The noise is unbelievable but I love it. The Kookaburras make more noise through the day and they echo all through the park. A few years ago there was an albino one there and it was so pretty.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Since I saw even saw the thread title, the old song about them has been running through my head! Did you hear it laugh at all?

Haha me too! I used to always sing it!

 

[ChiefTooie]

Hey Grey, That friend wouldn't be me would it?..

If so, He just flew away the other day. He got out of the netting.

They are cool birds! I have a friend that owns one.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That's awesome A friend of mine has a Kookaburra, here's a video of him calling for anyone who doesn't know what they sound like. Rosie gets a little cameo lol

[ame=http://youtu.be/wpZ8wZiIBCw]017 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Mike17]

Kookaburras aren't commonly kept as pets here, no doubt because it's illegal to keep birds caught in the wild in Australia, and nobody thought to catch them when it was legal and breed them in aviaries. I'd think the beak would be a tad scary, kingfishers catch prey (and presumably food generally) with a stabbing motion. I've seen them in the wild catching snakes- they bash them against tree branches or the ground, to kill them (and they do the same thing with proffered sausages, just to make sure they're dead, too).

Hollywood used the kookaburra laugh in "background wildlife noises" years ago in Tarzan movies- Hollywood was never especially good at accuracy in movies, I seem to recall Johnny Weissmuller fighting a Bengal tiger...

 

[Luke252]

Hollywood used the kookaburra laugh in "background wildlife noises" years ago in Tarzan movies- Hollywood was never especially good at accuracy in movies, I seem to recall Johnny Weissmuller fighting a Bengal tiger...

Haha, thats a funny interesting fact. And yeah Kookaburra's aren't very common pets for those reasons, but they are pretty cool. I get many flocking around my house of a morning, but first hand I have seen what the stupid Mayna birds and Magpies are doing to them. Chasing them away. They are just so aggressive those little guys.

 

[Mike17]

Before legislators went mad on gun owners, I used to shoot Indian Mynahs in suburban Sydney with an air rifle. I hate them, along with starlings and sparrows. "Rats of the air". One fantastic thing about Western Au is that they have few introduced birds. Perth has Rainbow Lorikeets (which are Australian, of course, but still "exotic"), the only introduced birds I've seen here, 900km north of Perth, are feral pigeons. Normally, I don't mind pigeons, but this pair have decided an obsolete section of the old station I work at, where I now park my car as it's the only shade, is ideal to roost in. My car is turning from pearl white to a yukky greeny brown Makes me wish I still had an air rifle- and it would be doubly useful for getting a meal or two out of the countless rabbits around here.

 

[Luke252]

Before legislators went mad on gun owners, I used to shoot Indian Mynahs in suburban Sydney with an air rifle. I hate them, along with starlings and sparrows. "Rats of the air". One fantastic thing about Western Au is that they have few introduced birds. Perth has Rainbow Lorikeets (which are Australian, of course, but still "exotic"), the only introduced birds I've seen here, 900km north of Perth, are feral pigeons. Normally, I don't mind pigeons, but this pair have decided an obsolete section of the old station I work at, where I now park my car as it's the only shade, is ideal to roost in. My car is turning from pearl white to a yukky greeny brown Makes me wish I still had an air rifle- and it would be doubly useful for getting a meal or two out of the countless rabbits around here.

Yeah, the mynas just keep increasing in numbers and it sucks because they're pushing out all the lovely native species, including one of my favourite, The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Lets just hope it doesn't get that bad!