Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) Fact Sheet: Reproduction & Development

Mating system

• Monogamous, cooperative breeding
• Mating system and breeding biology of kookaburras was described in detail by Parry (1968,1970,1973) and by Legge (2000a,b,c,2004)
  • Parry used color banding to aid in the recognition of individuals and their social roles
  • Legge determined parentage of chicks by collecing and analyzing DNA
• Mated pair lives in a group with up to 6 helpers that are offspring from previous seasons (Legge 2004)
• Having more helpers does not improve nesting success; success varies, depending on helpers' sex (Legge 2004)
  • The presence of additional male helpers has neither a positive nor negative effect on fledgling success and fledgling weight
  • Having additional female helpers has a negative impact on nesting success - perhaps because females aren't dependable incubators or provisioners
• Cooperative breeding exhibited by many Australian birds, including (Ford 1985):
  • Treecreepers (Family Climacteridae)
  • Bell miners (Manorina melanophrys)
  • Yellow robins (Eopsaltria spp.)
  • Striated pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus)
  • Fairy-wrens (Family Maluirdae)
  • Choughs (Corax melanorpamphos)
  • Babblers (Pomatostomus spp.)

Courtship (Legge 2004)

• A male-female pair remains together for many years, usually until one dies
• Before breeding season begins, a group becomes more noisy and active
  • Intruders are vigorously chased away
  • Group members fight more and are also more attentive to each other
  • The dominant male and female stay close to each other; calling frequently
    • Courtship displays and mate guarding may begin 6 weeks before egg laying (Higgins 1999)
• Courtship involves three elements (Myers 1996):
  • Courtship feeding; male brings food to female
    • Other group members may also bring food (Legge 2004)
  • Time spent visiting the nest in a tree hollow
  • Copulation

Nesting

• Parents engage in ritual tree-hollow inspecting (Legge 2004)
• Height of chosen nest above ground varies greatly, from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 60 m (196.9 ft)
• Parents make little attempt to prepare the hollow for nesting
• Nest may sometimes be made in a termite nest in a tree (Fry et al. 1992)
• Only one nesting attempt per season (Legge 2000a)
• Tree hollow nest may be used for many years (Fry et al. 1992)
  

(Legge 2000a,b,c 2004)

• Eggs laid in Australian spring (September-December)
• Female usually lays three eggs and sometimes two; rarely one or as many as five (Parry 1970)
• Eggs rounded to elliptical, smooth, luminous white (Foreshaw & Cooper 1983)
• Usually 1-2 days between laying of each egg; up to 4 days between
• Female incubates eggs at night; male and other helpers assist in daytime
• All members of the group (parents plus helpers) develop a brood patch on the belly
  • This area of unfeathered skin that is rich in blood vessels helps keep eggs warm
• Eggs begin to develop only when reaching a critical temperature after the female begins sitting on them (incubating):
  • If she begins after all eggs are laid, then nestlings hatch at about the same time
    • This results in a hyper-competitive situation and increases the likeliness of siblicide
  • If she starts incubating immediately upon laying the first egg, then that chick will hatch sooner than the others (decreasing the likeliness of siblicide)
• The dominant male incubates eggs the most often; the dominant female the next most often; female helpers the least

Nestlings (Legge 2004)

• Nestling break out of eggs using conical egg tooth on top of their bill
• Third hatchlings rarely survive; severe aggression by other two chicks results in a 50% survival rate of the third-born chick
• Pin feather stubs visible under skin at 4 days; emerge 7-11 days (Parry 1970)
• Eyes fully open by day 10 (Higgins 1999)
• Food is delivered to nestlings whole (often tenderized by bashing on ground or against tree or rock)
• Parents plus all helpers forage for food for the chicks; with each additional helper, each helper reduces its provsioning efforts (Legge 2000c)

Young

• Kookaburra keep stubby pin feathers until nearly the time of fledging (Legge 2004)
• This is a trait of all members of the order Coraciiformes (bee-eaters, rollers, hornbills, kingfishers)
• Trait perhaps serves to keep feathers from becoming frayed and soiled while young live in a confined tree hollow
• Adults don't remove feces from hollow; older birds attempt to aim feces out the opening but often miss (Woodall 2001)
• Feathers of the head region open through the shafts around day 32 (Smith 1976)
• Fledging at 33-39 days (Parry 1970)
• After this relatively long nesting period, young can fly well when they leave the tree hole nest (Parry 1970)
• One, occasionally two, chicks are fledged (Legge 2004)
• Begin to laugh at 6 weeks; perfect the laugh by 3 months (Woodall 2001)
• Young are typically darker on chest than adults

Adults

•  Sexual maturity at 1 year; most delay breeding for several years (Woodall 2001)

Wild populations

• Approximately 12.5 years (Legge 2004)

Managed care

• Median life expectancy

  • 17.9 years (AZA 2024)

• Predation on nests is rare, probably because they are located in tree hollows (Emlen & Wrenge 1991)
• Occasionally quolls, goannas, and olive pythons prey upon chicks (Legge 2004)
• Whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus) and goshawks prey on adult kookaburra (Hobbs 1966)
• Greater gliders (Petauroides volans), possums, cats, foxes, butchers birds (Cracticus sp.), brush-tailed phascogales (a type of carnivorous marsupial) were all suspected by Parry (1970) of preying on kookaburras

Eastman (1970)
Emlen & Wrenge (1991)
Ford (1985)
Foreshaw & Cooper (1983)
Fry et al. (1992)
Hobbs (1966)
Legge (2000abc, 2004)
Myers (1996)
Parry (1968, 1970,1973)
Smith (1976)
Woodall (2001)