kookaburra and the spangled kookaburra are restricted to New Guinea and islands in the Torres Straits. The blue-winged kookaburra and the laughing kookaburra are both widespread in Australia. Two subspecies are recognised: D. n. novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) – the nominate subspecies, east Australia, Tasmania and introduced into southwest Australia D. n. minor Robinson, 1900 – Cape York Peninsula south to Cooktown Description The laughing kookaburra is the largest species of kingfisher, outsizing even the giant kingfisher in body mass. It is a stout, stocky bird in length, with a large head, prominent brown eyes, and a long and robust bill. The sexes are very similar, although the female is usually larger and has less blue to the rump than the male. The male weighs , mean and the female , mean . They have a white or cream-coloured body and head with a dark brown stripe across each eye and more faintly over the top of the head. The wings and back are brown with sky blue spots on the shoulders. The tail is rusty reddish-orange with dark brown bars and white tips on the feathers. The heavy bill is black on top and bone-coloured on the bottom. The subspecies D. n. minor has a similar plumage to the nominate but is smaller in size. The laughing kookaburra can be distinguished from the similarly sized blue-winged kookaburra by its dark eye, dark eye-stripe, shorter bill and the smaller and duller blue areas on the wing and rump. Male blue-winged kookaburras also differ in having a barred blue and black tail. Call The name "laughing kookaburra" refers to the bird's "laugh", which it uses to establish territory among family groups. It can be heard at any time of day, but most frequently at dawn and dusk. This species possesses a tracheo-bronchial syrinx, which creates two sources of vibrations so it can produce two frequencies at the same time with multiple harmonics. The laughing kookaburras call is made through a complex sound production system, by forcing air from the lungs into the bronchial tubes. While the structure for producing calls is present from an early age, the kookaburra’s song is a learned behavior. The breeding pair within a riot of kookaburra teach the fledglings to produce the signature laughing call after the young have left the nest. The adult male will sing a short portion of the call while the offspring mimics