Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The type species is the laughing kookaburra. [1] The name Dacelo is an anagram of alcedo , the Latin word for a kingfisher. [ 7 ] A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus Dacelo , as then defined, was paraphyletic .
In this list of birds by common name 11,278 extant and recently extinct (since 1500) bird species are recognised. [1] ... Laughing kookaburra
Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. Some kingfishers nest in arboreal termite nests. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word "kingfisher" normally refers to the common kingfisher.
Blue Winged kookaburra - Berry Springs - Northern Territory - Australia. The blue-winged kookaburra was first collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, but was initially overlooked and confused with the laughing kookaburra, and was finally officially described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1826, its specific name commemorating British zoologist William Elford Leach. [2]
The laughing kookaburra is the largest species of kingfisher, outsizing even the giant kingfisher in body mass. [ 6 ] [ 29 ] It is a stout, stocky bird 41–47 cm (16–19 in) in length, with a large head, prominent brown eyes, and a long and robust bill. [ 2 ]
Most species are watch-and-wait hunters which dive onto prey from a perch, mainly taking slow-moving invertebrates or small vertebrates. The shovel-billed kookaburra digs through leaf litter for worms and other prey, and the Vanuatu kingfisher feeds exclusively on insects and spiders. Several other western Pacific species are also mainly ...
Like the blue-winged kookaburra, the sexes can be distinguished by the colour of the tail feathers, blue in males and rufous in females and immature birds. Rufous-bellied kookaburras are smaller than other kookaburra species [ 3 ] at around 143 g (5.0 oz) as against the laughing kookaburra 's 335 g (11.8 oz) and about 28 cm (11.0 in) [ 4 ] as ...
Formerly considered the sole representative of the genus Clytoceyx, a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2017 found that the shovel-billed kookaburra nested with the kookaburras in the genus Dacelo. [3] It was reclassified into Dacelo by the International Ornithological Congress in 2023. [4] The shovel-billed kookaburra is endemic to New ...