Hi Guys! I'm a newbie, I've been watching the boards for a while with interest....especially in regards to the photography side of things - I just love getting out and about with my camera :)
Anyway, I have a question about kookaburras I am hoping you can help with. I was sitting watching the telly the other night when there started up the most awfull racket outside the window. I got up to see a kooka with what appeared to be a baby bird in it's mouth that was screaming it head off with good reason - as the kooka was wacking it on the top of our water tank. It was nearly dark so I didn't get a great look at what was happening but it got me wondering if kooka's do raid other birds nests and take the chicks, or wether it might have caught a little micro bat or something?? What do they usually eat besides insects?
Thanks for any insight :)
Welcome mrscurtis,yes, they eat animals like worms, frogs, often snails, small mammals, and,yes, BIRDS! They kill them by bashing then( on something) to death!!! For that reason you can hear all the other birds in the aerea call out to warn other birds, and get louder, the closer the Kookaburra gets.
M-L
Kookaburras aren't too fussy what they eat when their belly is empty. I have seen them over the years eat baby birds, skinks, lizards, snakes, cicadas and even trawl rubbish bins in local parks for a feed. A number of years back I was at a BBQ at St Ives when a Kookaburra swooped through the backyard and grabbed a sausage straight off the BBQ plate!
Hi Raven, was that sausage still moving?? LOL!
M-L
Thanks :) We have a large kooka population around our place - there seems to be a group in each gum tree (we have 4 large gums on our property) They make alot of noise but I love them :)
I remeber a similar experience Raven. When I was visiting my folks in Perth about 10 years back, we went for a picnic in Kings Park and my Mum had a kookaburra swoop down from a tree and take a sausage straight from her mouth as she was in the midst of taking a bite. It was a pretty freaky and unpleasant experience for her I think.
.
It made us look a bit askance at all the local birds for a while.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
yesterday i was watching a group of red brows bobbing around when a kookaburra dropped onto one of the babies and flew off with it,very unpleasant but he probably has young to feed to
Well we feed them at 4.00 PM ish daily,with pet mince,and they are usually polite and eat a small portion before departing.When waiting for our bird diner to open we call it [The Cafe De Flock]they sit patiently in the surrounding trees.Usually for some strange reason,the smaller birds here,Aust Minas,Blue face Nectar eaters sidle up to them on the branches and sit together with no ill effects,no agro.
Some bad habits from a couple of the Kookas,or maybe just one, is the tendency to sometimes pull out or break off my flowering seedlings from planters in the area.
We can hand feed them too,no prob.
Chooks I eat,The others I Feed!
The Kookaburras don't usually have a go at larger adult birds especially miners and blue face honeyeaters two of the most aggressive birds around,but they will grab a baby or a smaller bird if they get a chance
Yes I read that they are lickly to eat fairwrens, quete sad realy, but it is life.
yours,
birdiee
Hi,birdiee, now isn't that strange? I just saw a Kookaburra kill,and fly off, with a big Black Bird.I have seen them take smaller birds, and other animals, but this one was large and fat!!(well, there are plenty of BB's, so ,good choice..?)
M-L