CHUCKLES

The Kookaburra

 

Every morning, Chuckles the Kookaburra is up early, waking the bush with his loud laughter. The main reason for this amazing sound is to mark out the kookaburra's territory. So you'll hear Chuckles laughing here and there throughout the forest.

He lives in open forest and woodlands where there are large trees for the nest and open areas where it is easier to hunt for food. Chuckles will probably live to be an old bird of around 20 years. Kookaburras take a long time to rear their babies. Older brothers and sisters help to guard the territory, incubate the eggs and look after the young birds. This takes a lot of pressure of the mum and dad and helps to keep a large family living and working together.

You'll find Kookaburras in many parts of Australia, but mostly in the eastern and southern areas. These are places where there is enough food available such as lizards, mice and snakes. They also eat lots of big insects such as grasshoppers.

Because they live so long and don't have many babies, the kookaburra is vulnerable to large catastrophes such as destruction of their territory or poisons. A sudden crash in numbers would take a long time to recover.