This bird was introduced from Australia in the early 1860’s and is now only found from south of Whangarei in the North to the northern Waitakere Ranges in the south.

The Kookaburra is a very large kingfisher with a heavy black and yellow bill, a pale head and underparts, a brownish back and a rufous, black barred tail.  The call is a raucous laughing cackle ‘koo-koo-koo-kooah, ha-ha’.

The diet is mainly earthworms, snails, insects, freshwater crayfish, frogs, lizards, rats, mice and small birds.

Breeding is between November and February.  The nest is in a tunnel bored in a rotten tree trunk, or in a cavity in a Pohutukawa.  The clutch of 2 – 4 white eggs is incubated for about 23 days and the chicks fledge between 33 – 39 days.  They may be fed for several weeks after.

In recent years there have been 2 – 3 sightings on Tiri.

Photography by: Max McRae © (left) and Dr Kerry Rodgers © (right)

References: Heather, B.D.; Robertson, H.A. 2000 The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Auckland, Viking.