Laughing kookaburra there. He probably obtained a preserved specimen from one of the naturalists who accompanied Captain James Cook to the east coast of Australia. Edme-Louis Daubenton and François-Nicolas Martinet included a coloured plate of the laughing kookaburra based on Sonnerat's specimen in their "Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle". The plate has the legend in French ""Martin-pecheur, de la Nouvelle Guinée"" (Kingfisher from New Guinea). In 1783, the French naturalist Johann Hermann provided a formal description of the species based the coloured plate by Daubenton and Martinet. He gave it the scientific name "Alcedo novæ Guineæ". The current genus "Dacelo" was introduced in
Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait) is a smaller but higher granite island. From an Australian birder's perspective, local bird specialities include grey-headed goshawk, Gurney's eagle, rufous-bellied kookaburra, collared imperial-pigeon, orange-bellied fruit-dove, Papuan needletail, red-capped flowerpecker, streak-headed mannikin and singing starling. Access to these islands is not easy. Permission to visit is required from the island councils. The few birders who visit, do so on pre-organised trips by chartered yacht or, occasionally, on day-trips by chartered light aircraft. Saibai and Boigu have airstrips. The following list is annotated with initials indicating which species have been recorded on the three islands. Because these islands have not been