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
The Australian Bird Guide Pearson from the "British Bird Guides" also reviewed the book and while he did mention the size of the book, overall he was also very enthusiastic about the guide. While the Chris Watson review was critical of the written bird sounds this review thought they had been done very well. Pearson was also critical that the birds full length (size range) was not provided rather it provides wing size, bill length and weight. Donna Lynn Schulman reviewed this Guide for "10,000 Birds" and at the same time compared this guide to the most popular existing Australian bird guides. The author