Kookaburra

Taxonomy

The genus Dacelo was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. The type species is the laughing kookaburra. The name Dacelo is an anagram of Alcedo, the Latin word for a kingfisher. A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus Dacelo, as currently defined, is paraphyletic. The shovel-billed kookaburra in the monotypic genus Clytoceyx sits within Dacelo.

Classification and species

Four species of kookaburra can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands.

Kookaburras are sexually dimorphic. This is noticeable in the blue-winged and the rufous-bellied, where males have blue tails and females have reddish-brown tails.

• Rufous-bellied kookaburra (Dacelo gaudichaud) – lowland New Guinea
• Spangled kookaburra (Dacelo tyro) – Aru Islands, southern New Guinea
• Blue-winged kookaburra (Dacelo leachii) – northern Australia, southern New Guinea
• Laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) – native to eastern Australia, introduced to southwest

Unusually for close relatives, the laughing and blue-winged species are direct competitors in the area where their ranges now overlap. This suggests that these two species evolved in isolation, possibly during a period when Australia and New Guinea were more distant — see Australia (continent).

• The single member of the genus Clytoceyx is commonly called the shovel-billed kookaburra.

Behaviour

Kookaburras are almost exclusively carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles, and the young of other birds; unlike many other kingfishers, they rarely eat fish, although they have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. In zoos they are usually fed food for birds of prey.

The most social birds will accept handouts and will take meat from barbecues. It is generally not advised to feed kookaburras ground beef or pet food, as these do not include enough calcium and roughage.

They are territorial, except for the rufous-bellied, which often live with their young from the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory.

Conservation

All kookaburra species are listed as Least Concern. Australian law protects native birds, including kookaburras.