Every spring a Laughing Kookaburra visits my veranda, it’s quite strange.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 200
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70mm
Kookaburras visit my garden pretty much every day but it’s only in spring that one sits hopefully on my veranda. I imagine it gets fed somewhere locally and this is the time of year that the host family head off for a holiday.
Kookas’ heads and bills are so huge compared to the rest of them that it always surprises me that they can fly.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/1000, f/5.0, ISO 160
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70mm
A friend of mine had loaned me his Canon 5Div and his Canon 24-70mm lens (thank you David!) and I was sitting outside familiarising myself with the gear when the company arrived, which explains some of the unusual camera settings.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 250
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70mm
Talk about a hint! After a few minutes the kooka seemed to decide that it had waited far too long for me to feed it so opened its big bill.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 200
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70
The kooka still didn’t get fed so it flew down and landed on the coffee table. So funny. It would have been too close to focus on if I’d been using my main lens.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/1000, f/8.0, ISO 400
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70mm
When I still didn’t give it any food it flew back up to the veranda railing and started peering towards the ground.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
1/640, f/4.0, ISO 1600
Canon 5Div, Canon 24-70mm
And it’s foraging was instantly successful. Surely that’s not a dirty look it’s giving me! The chuckling, chortling call of the Laughing Kookaburra always makes me smile, but this bird made me smile without even laughing.
Happy birding
Kim
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A great series! That picture with his beak open is incredible!
Thank you Alyssa! It was as though it was saying ‘feed me, feed me now’
Love that series of photos Kim. What a story each one tells! You have captured some great attitudes and expressions. As always, your photos bring so much pleasure. Thanks.
Thank you Margot, It makes me happy that you enjoyed the photographs. It was such a comical little character 🙂
Great shots. For the last 4 years, kookaburras have raised young in the hollow of a tree opposite our house. Always a pleasure to follow the progress and antics each year!
Thanks Stephen. That would be fantastic to watch from your house. Now I’m wondering whether you’ve painted them yet
Love these photos and accompanying story. What a beautiful bird!
Thank you Merrilyn! It certainly made my few moments on the veranda far more enjoyable, and memorable, than I thought they be
Great photos Kim. How providential that you had your friend’s camera with you to get these shots. Incidentally, the latest Birdlife Australia has a provocative review of a newly published book that questions the practice of not feeding backyard birds. It’s worth a read. Australian Geographic have also entered the debate.
Keep posting your great photos.
Neil
Thanks Neil. I listened to the interview about that from AG, I found it very interesting too. Maybe the answer could be to make issues about inappropriate food more well known, and to have appropriate food more widely available…
Great photographs and wonderful experience.
Thank you Thomas, it is very special to be trusted by wildlife
These photos are totally stunning!!
Thank you Rachel 🙂