Laughing kookaburra Laughing kookaburra The laughing kookaburra ("Dacelo novaeguineae") is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large robust kingfisher with a whitish head and a dark eye-stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown but there is a mottled light-blue patch on the wing coverts. The underparts are 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
Kookaburra III a very fast sailer. Iain Murray believed her to be the syndicates fastest right up until the defender finals, when "Kookaburra III" finally became faster as a result of a keel modification. The defender series was extremely competitive, with "Kookaburra II", "Kookaburra III" and "Australia IV" all very close in boat speed. This led to extremely close racing, marred only by the large number of protests raised. The red protest flag was a frequent flyer from the stern of a defender boat, with the results of the day's sailing protested nearly every other race. In all, fifty protests were lodged