The Australian aborigines have a legend about the Kookaburra. When the sun rose for the first time, the god Bayame ordered the kookaburra to utter its loud, almost human laughter in order to wake up mankind so that they should not miss the wonderful sunrise.
The Laughing Kookaburra native to eastern Australia makes a very familiar call sounding like raucous laughter. Their call is used to establish territory among family groups, most often at dawn and dusk. One bird starts with a low, hiccuping chuckle, then throws its head back in raucous laughter.
Kookaburra is an Australian aboriginal word – guuguubarra – that describes the laughing sound the bird makes. According to an Australian aboriginal myth, the creator god Baiame made the kookaburra call out when the sun rose in the morning.
The spirits decided they must have a noise made at the dawn of each new day to announce the arrival of the sun, which would wake the sleepers - but what noise. Then one day the spirits heard the laughter of Goo-goor-gaga, the kookaburra ringing through the air. This was the noise the spirits were looking for.
Laughing Kookaburras are the largest Kingfisher in the world. Its laugh is used to signal their territory to other birds. They live in families, with siblings remaining in the family till they are old enough to look after themselves. They also act as helpers during the breeding season.
2) Kookaburras
Heard the call of the King of the Bush in the past few days? Well, that's great news, because a Kookaburra laughing is sure sign that rain is on the horizon.
Kookaburras, Magpie-larks (Pee-Wee), and some other birds, will sometimes attack their reflection in a window. This is usually a territorial behaviour, which occurs mainly in the breeding season: the bird sees its own reflection in the glass as a rival.
Concentric circles usually represent camp sites, waterholes or places of significance. Curved lines generally represent rain or water travelling underground. Straight lines may be indicative of travelling & when these lines join concentric circles it may show the pathway travelled by the ancestors.
According to the Dreaming story, birds all used to be black and have no colour. One day, a bird landed on a sharp branch, which cut into his foot and made it swell, and all birds except the crow came to his aid and looked after him until the swelling broke, releasing colour into the world.
(informal) Mentally senile.
"The crow is sacred and most Aboriginal people will not kill the crow," he said. "Aboriginal people have different stories about how they spread messages and lead people to safety if they're lost.
Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.
In many Australian Aboriginal cultures Bush Stone-Curlews have close associations with death.
Be a Backyard Buddy
Having a large range of native shrubs and trees in your backyard gives Kookaburras plenty of sticks and leaves to build a nest with. Having local native plants in your garden will also attract lizards and insects such as native bees and stick insects, which provide a tasty treat for Kookaburras.
Did you know that the collective noun for kookaburras is a flock or riot? I couldn't think of a better name, some afternoons in our neighbourhood our local kookaburras are so loud they definitely sound like they're having a riot. ? Love kookaburras? You'll love our waterproof Kookaburra stickers!
Kookaburras can be friendly and seem to tolerate humans well.
In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero and ancestral being. In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he is known as Waang (also Wahn or Waa) and is regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being the more sombre eaglehawk Bunjil.
How the Birds Got Their Colours is based on a story told by Mary Albert, of the Bardi people, to Aboriginal children living in Broome, Western Australia. The illustrations are adapted from their paintings of the story.
Magpies were there at the very first sunrise, according to Aboriginal history. Working together they managed to prop up the sky with sticks, but it threatened to break the sticks and collapse to earth again – with potentially disastrous consequences.
The Raven. The Indigenous animal symbol of the raven plays a very important role in Indigenous culture. The raven is mischievous and curious, and symbolizes creation, knowledge, and transformation.
The spindle motif in his 'Man's Love Story' artworks has become synonymous as an Aboriginal symbol for love.
The sacred Aboriginal colours, said to be given to indigenous people during Tjukurpa*, are Black, Red, Yellow and White.
Since kookaburras across the board are diurnal birds, they sleep during the night and go about the bulk of their business during the daytime. Roosting generally lasts for roughly 12 hours or so each night. They are at their noisiest right as it begins to get light out, usually around daybreak.
The cackle of the Kookaburra is a territorial call to warn other birds to stay away. The loud 'koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-kaa-kaa-kaa' is often sung in a chorus with other individuals.
In daylight, birds crash into windows because they see reflections of vegetation or see through the glass to potted plants or vegetation on the other side. At night, nocturnal migrants (including most songbirds) crash because they fly into lighted windows.