Laughing kookaburra hands without warning, by swooping in from a distance. People often feed them pieces of raw meat. Laughing Kookaburras are often kept in zoos. The kookaburra is also the subject of a popular Australian children's song, the "Kookaburra" which was written by Marion Sinclair in 1934. Recordings of this bird have been edited into Hollywood movies for decades - usually in jungle settings - beginning with the Tarzan series in the 1930s, and more recently in the film "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997). Laughing kookaburra The laughing kookaburra ("Dacelo novaeguineae") is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It
Red wattlebird a horizontal "appeasement posture" side-on to the aggressor in which it lowers its head, flutters its wings and edges closer to the other bird. As well as smaller bird species, red wattlebirds can mob and chase larger species such as the Australian magpie ("Gymnorhina tibicen"), butcherbirds and currawongs, the black-faced cuckooshrike ("Coracina novaehollandiae"), the olive-backed oriole ("Oriolus sagittatus"), crows and ravens, the laughing kookaburra ("Dacelo novaeguineae") and even small raptors like the collared sparrowhawk ("Accipiter cirrocephalus"). The red wattlebird breeds throughout its range, with nesting taking place between July and December, though occasionally outside these months if conditions are favourable.