Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) Fact Sheet: Physical Characteristics

Body measurements

Weight data from Woodall (2001).
Body length data from Myers (1996).

• D. n. novaeguineae is the largest kingfisher in the world
• Dagger-like bill, short legs, and a stout body
• D. n. minor is slightly smaller

• Female slightly larger than male with less blue on rump feathers (Woodall 2001)

• Plumage comparison for several kookaburra species (Fry et al. 1992; Woodall 2001)
  • D. novaeguineae - Laughing Kookaburra
    • White head and chest
    • Dark crown and eyeband
    • Blue spots on wing coverts
    • Rufous (reddish-brown) tail banded in black
  • D. leachii - Blue-winged Kookaburra
    • White head, but no dark eyepatch
    • Blue on male's rump much more conspicuous than in D. n. novaeguineae 
    • Female's upper tail coverts rufous, barred with black; male's tail coverts are blue
    • Bill is longer and more conical than in D. n. novaeguineae 
  • D. tyro - Spangled Kookaburra
    • Smaller than either laughing or blue-winged species
    • Head and hindneck yellow-buff with black margins on feathers
    • Belly buff to pale orange
    • Rump and upper tail coverts bight cobalt blue
  • D. gaudichaud - Rufous-bellied Kookaburra
    
    • Black cap and back
    • White bill
    • Blue wings, rump
    • Rufous belly
    • Blue tail - male; rufous tail - female
  • Adaptations that help conserve energy for this sedentary, "sit-and wait" predator (Buttemer et al. 2003):
    • Thick feathers provide 24% better insulation than seen in other birds of a similar size
  • Metabolism and body temperature lowered significantly during nighttime resting
  • Kookaburras moult over a 90-120 day period (Parry 1970)
• Feet (Eastman 1970):
  • Three toes point forward; one toe points backward
    • Kingfishers' forward-facing toes are joined from the base for one-third their length. This fusion of joints is called "syndactyly".
  • Middle toe is the longest (Higgins 1999)
• Skull (Parry 1970)
  • Have prominent bony ridge on back of skull where strong neck muscles attach
    • Strength is required when bashing and killing prey
• Bill
  • Long and heavy, about same length as head (Higgins 1999)
  • Hooked bill of very young juvenile used in attacking nestmates (Woodall 2001)
• Eyes (Moroney & Pettigrew 1987)
  • Superb vision for detecting prey from above
  • Visual field is composed of two areas rich in receptors (fovea):
    • Within a single eye, vision is sharpened by monocular fovea
    • By rotating the head, a second area of receptors in each eye can be used together for binocular vision to detect movement and position
      • Falcons use similar head-tracking movements
      • Other predatory birds such as eagles and kites track prey more often with their eyes rather than head turning

The Laughing Kookaburra has a distinctive dark eye band.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Buttermer et al. (2003)
Eastman (1970)
Fry et al. (1992)
Higgins (1999)
Moroney & Pettigrew (1987)
Myers (1996)
Parry (1970)
Woodall (2001)