A small, stout hunting bird native to Australia and New Guinea and closely related to kingfishers. It has a loud, braying call that sounds a lot like a human laughing. Its call is a territorial sound to warn other kookaburras to stay clear. It also has a softer call that sounds like a human's chuckle, which is used to help keep kookaburra family members together. If you've ever seen a cartoon or an old movie set in a jungle, you know what a kookaburra's call sounds like (even though kookaburras don't actually live in jungles).

Kookaburras are most likely to laugh in the evening and morning hours, when they sometimes cackle together in loud choruses. They are so punctual that they are also known as the "bushman's clock."