Breeding and Nesting
Courtship and Mating
The Laughing Kookaburra has a breeding/nesting season from September to December and are once a year breeders [6]. About 2-3 monthe before breeding season beginning, calling frequency increases, often a male and female of a breeding pair that are communicating to one another, sometimes to check how close their mate is to them [1]. These calls can also be related to guarding a mate [1].
Around 6 weeks before the female lays her eggs, courtship behavior will begin [1]. This involves the breeding pair sitting close to one another on perchs and the pair following one another around, never being more that 30 meters away from their mate [1]. They will also exhibit aerial displays of swooping flights and calling at the same time near the site where they have selected their nest to be [1].
Copulation occurs in about a 20 second period of time with the female raising her tail and pushing her body forward and the male pointing his tail downward and using his wings to flap in order to stablize himself [1].
The breeding female is feed most often by the breeding male, but also by other members of the group until all of her clutch has been lain.
Nesting
The location of the nest is decided by the breeding pair [1]. The clutch is normally 2-4 eggs, most commonly 3 [6]. The eggs are white and round with a faint luster and are on average 46mm x 36mm in measurement. Examples of eggs seen below:
Their nests are hollows, not lined with any material, on the underside of trunks or limbs about 10-12 meters from the ground and occasionally in termite mounds in the Northern part of Australia [6]. An example of a tree trunk nest can be seen here:
Incubation of eggs is sporatic until the entire clutch of eggs has been lain by the breeding female, then it isconsistant and done by every member of the group [1]. The auxillary males and females incubate the eggs about the same length of time, the breeding male incubates more than the breeding female, but she incubates the eggs more during the day [1].
The time from laying to hatching is approximately 24-26 days [1]. Unhatched eggs and shells are usually left in the nest because the group does not perform any cleaning behavior related to the nest [1]. It takes eggs about 36 hours to hatch from the first crack in the shell [1].
Offspring
Hatchlings are blind and naked an[1]d rely completely on the group for their survival [1]. At this time they will appear as the chicks in the following image:
Between days 7 and 11, pin feathers emerge from beneath their skin. Around day 10 after hatching, their eyes begin to open and are entirely open by day 18 [1]. Pin feathers will cover their bodies by days 17-31 [1]. Shortly after these changes have taken place, fledglings will take on the following appearence:
The following are a series of pictures outlining the development of the hatching laughing kookaburra to its juvenile form:
