"Bad Hair Day!"
I wish I looked as cute as this Kookaburra on my bad hair days. Would you like to know who his stylist is and how much this ruffled, contemporary look cost him? Then read on!
I'd just arrived with John from off the Ferry which took us from Brisbane to Tangalooma Holiday Resort on Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia and there was a long wait for us to get booked into our rooms.
I wasn't prepared to wait in the queue as I was keen to have a look around this beautiful tropical paradise. My obliging husband did the boring stuff whilst I grabbed my camera and strolled around the gardens enjoying the beach views, the white velvety sands and the crystal, clear waters of the sea.
The resort has two swimming pools with adjacent spa pools and I gravitated towards the nearest one. Many of the mornings previous guests had left for home and we were part of the next lot of tourists to arrive, so there weren't many people enjoying the facilities yet. I thought I had the pool area all to myself until I saw a very bedraggled looking kookaburra drying out in the sun on a wooden fence.
I was naturally fascinated to find him there and wondered how he had gotten so wet. (Sometimes obvious answers to my own questions evade me) Well my new found, feathered friend quickly came to my aid by dive bombing into the pool and coming out over the other side of the pool.
He looked like a drowned rat...….but a very contented one. He'd spotted me and was more than happy to share this little slice of paradise with me. He wasn't at all shy and I figured he was used to people coming and going and was intelligent enough to know that at this time on a Friday, a change over of guests were taking place and this was his opportunity to have a swim. No sooner had he shaken his feathers (and hence given himself that flash hair do,) then he'd do it all again.
Back into the pool he'd go, dry himself with a few vigorous shakes, allow the sun to temporarily warm him and in he'd go again. I thoroughly enjoyed this free entertainment and thought that if my first hour spent on Tangalooma was as good as the rest of my holiday I was in for a special time indeed. I'm happy to report that I was correct in my initial assessment.
The two types of Australian Kookaburra are the Laughing Kookaburra and the Blue Winged Kookaburra. The Laughing Kookaburra is easy to identify in appearance and in sound. They are also characterized by their white bellies and brown flecked wings.
Whereas the Blue Winged Kookaburra’s laugh is coarser than the Laughing Kookaburra’s which ends quite abruptly. The Blue Winged Kookaburra’s appearance differs from the Laughing Kookaburra by the brown stripe along their eyes which look like masks and their tails and wings are adorned with attractive blue feathers.
Along with night feeding of wild dolphins and pelican feeding every morning, the staff of the resort allow guests to watch kookaburras feed at four o'clock each afternoon. Although friendly, they are wild, but enjoy flying in for a top up of their natural diet.
I was so glad to get close enough for a few good shots of them swooping down and catching the bits of meat which was thrown their way or by actually taking the meat from out of the staff members hand. Their diet consists of insects, worms, crustaceans, small snakes, mammals, frogs and sometimes birds. Kookaburras are terrestrial birds and are also known as Tree Kingfishers and are the largest of the Kingfisher family.
Kookaburrra chicks are born blind and it takes a month for their feathers to form. Older siblings of these family orientated birds offer assistance to their busy parents by looking after the clutch of eggs before they hatch. These birds grow up to 47 cms long and weigh approximately 5 kgs and their bills measure up to 10 cms (4inches) in length. They don't appear to drink much water, making them ideal for the Australian climate but they get all the moisture they need from their food.
The sound of the Laughing Kookaburra is their way of marking their territory. When a group of Kookaburras join in, their distinctive chorus echoes through the gum trees and this sound is known as the Australian Quintessential Bush Anthem.
The Laughing Kookaburras are common throughout Eastern Australia although they have been introduced into Tasmania, the very south of Australia and even in New Zealand. The Blue Winged Kookaburras live in Northern and North Western Australia but overlap in parts of Queensland.
This well fed Kookaburra didn't give us one of his famous (and annoying for people who like to sleep in) laughs but he did have a very satisfied smile on his face after he finished feeding. He then flew up into the nearest palm tree and enjoyed the view before flying off into the bush.
Source:
THANK YOU FOR VIEWING. HAVE A GREAT DAY.
(This is my entry for the Daily Photography Contests. Todays Theme: Animal Photography.)
Take a moment to check out Julian's other challenges.
Monday: #foodphotography and #animalphotography
Tuesday: #landscapephotography and #cityscapephotography
Wednesday: #architecturalphotography and #vehiclephotography
Thursday: #macrophotography and #colourfulphotography
Friday: #streetphotography and #portraitphotography
Saturday: #sportsphotography and #smartphonephotography
Sunday: #goldenhourphotography and #longexposurephotography
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He’s so cute!! Great photos!!
Many thanks for your kind visit, upvote and comment @bec-on-the-block Greatly Appreciated. 🌸
You’re very welcome 😊
These are amazing shots, Trudee! And I agree, I wish I was that good looking with my bad hair day :-)
I'm glad you enjoyed this blog @icybc Many thanks for your welcome visit my friend.
Lol. He looks like he took a bath.
He had at least five swims while I was watching him @choogirl and must have been the cleanest kookaburra around for miles. Thanks so much for your visit.
He is so cute! I thought he looked rather stylish with the "bad hair" 😎
Thank you for sharing the amazing photos and such a detailed write-up on Kookaburras. I truly enjoyed reading your posts as well as viewing the lovely photos.
Thank you for your wonderful comments and appreciation @marbely I’m glad you enjoyed this blog. 🌺
What fabulous shots of them
Even on a bad hair day it looks so beautiful
Thank you JJ. I have to agree with you. Kookaburras are one of my favourite birds.
@trudeehunter I think I have only ever seen one once in my life but it was such a beauty
I’m fortunate to see them every now and again in the wild JJ. More often than not I hear them before I see them. 😁
@trudeehunter that is so so cool,
As a kid I actually witnessed birds having fun under a dropping and they can look super-cute in it. They sure know how to shake that off too when they want to.
I could watch birds for ages @awesomebasiono Thanks so much for dropping by. 🌸
The little bed head bird looks so cute. I’ve heard about the laughing kookaburras. Great shots of one.
Thanks so much @redheadpei The laugh of a Kookaburra is very unique and unmistakable. I’m glad you enjoyed this post my friend. 😊
Great post! The photos are awesome! By the way, if you regularly post about birds, please consider using the tag birding; @birdersofsteem is a recent addition to steemit, and the birding tag is an effort to try and give more visibility to birding posts, like this!
Hello @pardinus Nice to meet you and thanks so much for your lovely comments and support.......and for letting me know about the @birdsofsteem I think that is a great idea and I do have a lot of bird photos so will keep it in mind when I have spare tags available. 😊