Kookaburra,
'Cookie'
Dacelo
novaeguineae,
Kookaburras
(genus Dacelo) are large to very large (total length 28–42 cm/11-17
in) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea,
the name a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, which is onomatopoeic
of its call.
Kookaburras
are carnivorous. They will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice,
other small birds, and raw meat. The most social birds will accept
handouts from humans and will take raw or cooked meat (even if
at high temperature) from on or near open-air barbecues left unattended.
It is generally not advised to feed the birds too regularly as
meat alone does not include calcium and other nutrients essential
to the bird. Remainders of mince on the bird's beak can fester
and cause problems for the bird.
They
are territorial, and often live with the partly grown chicks of
the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their
territory.
In
the wild, kookaburras are known to eat babies of other birds and
snakes, and insects and small reptiles and even other small birds,
such as finches if they are lucky enough to catch them. In zoos,
they are usually fed food for birds of prey, and dead baby chicks.