Laughing Kookaburra

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

The laughing kookaburra is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large kingfisher with a whitish head and a brown eye-stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown but there is a mottled light-blue patch on the wing coverts. The underparts are cream-white and the tail is barred with rufous and black. The plumage of the male and female birds is similar. The territorial call is a distinctive laugh that is often delivered by several birds at the same time, and is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve a jungle setting.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

1. 01

   Bold dark eye-stripe on whitish head

   Forms a prominent mask, running from the bill through the eye to the sides of the neck.

2. 02

   Massive, deep, two-toned bill

   Extremely large and powerful; upper mandible dark, lower pale.

3. 03

   Rich rufous tail with dark barring

   Warm rufous-brown, crossed with several broad, dark bands.

4. 04

   Mottled sky-blue patch on wing coverts

   Patch of pale blue visible on the shoulder of the brown wing.