For the last three mornings and again this evening I have listened to a kookaburra with a very strange call - almost an incomplete call. The bird begins with a 'hooa hooa hooa', then starts the real call, doesn't finish, but instead makes the sound 'hoo hoo hoo' (very like a gibbon). Very hard to explain, but I do have a recording. Can anyone help?
There is nothing unusual about this, I have heard it quite often, sometimes they only do the starting sound, but never even call at all.There is also a noise they make before the hooa hooa, it sounds like a deep throat grunt, and they stop after that.
M-L
Yes, quite usual, Bridges. The kookaburra sound repertoire is reasonably extensive. Sometimes I've heard a kookaburra make a whirrrrrring sound a couple of times before falling silent.
Thanks so much to you both. Have never heard anything like this, but hear kookaburras constantly. I can now relax!
Bridges
Love listening to them. I often hear the throaty sound and wait for the rest and then it doesn't happen... Other times it does.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Kathie, your throaty sound & my whirrrrr make for a throaty whirrrrr which probably best describes for me what I hear occasionally from kookaburras.
Thank you all, now I know this is quite usual. Never having heard it before, it does sound strange. However, I have a further puzzle. We have lived here for nearly 20 years now, always heard kookaburras, but sometimes a few weeks can go by without a call. This 'normal' guy has been in our garden for nearly two weeks now, calling briefly morning and evening. Even when several birds called from a distance it remained here. Has it been ostrasized! Could it be a juvenile - it seems slightly smaller than most. Any suggestions?
Bridges
It could be a juvenile colonising new territory.