"Australian Laughing Kookaburra"

Australian Laughing Kookaburra

A few summers ago in Sydney, I was standing in my co-grandmother's beautiful back garden, eating a sausage sandwich and admiring her breathtaking view, when a Kookaburra swooped down, grabbed the sandwich out of my hand, and flew away!  

It happened so fast that I had no time to react, so I just stood there flabbergasted!

Photo of my co-grandmother's beautiful back garden and pool.

The Kookaburra is a big bird, 18 inches long from beak to tail, and it’s the largest in the kingfisher family.

They can be aggressive when hunting or cornered but laid-back and very comfortable with people who pose no threat, so I was never in danger from a bird attack. 

My sandwich, though, was an entirely different matter.

A Kookaburra, calculating where it will swoop next!

These birds are exclusively carnivorous (meat-eaters) and will grab meat right off the grill while cooking.

Their heavy beaks work like tweezers, making stealing food easy.  

Even though they are kingfishers, they eat more insects, spiders, frogs, reptiles, snakes, birds, rodents, etc., than fish.  

However, they occasionally snatch goldfish out of backyard aquatic ponds.

My daughter, proficient in DIY, designed and dug out her natural backyard pond. She has Kookaburras in her garden, so she bought a crocodile head to warn Kookaburras to stay away!    

A crocodile head will deter a Kookaburra!

Native to Australia, the Kookaburra is one of the country's most identifiable birds. I've spotted them perched in low and high places everywhere in Sydney. 

My son-in-law's favorite place to nap is on the front garden hammock, although he may not want to rest there with the Kookaburra. 

The colors in the bird's plumage complement each other. Its back is a stunning brown, and on each wing is a striking patch of blue. Its chest is creamy white, and its tail is reddish-brown with white feathers on the tips.

This photo shows the bird's beautiful color harmony!

A Kookaburra, spreading its wings!

It's a stocky bird with a thick neck, a buff-colored beak shaped like a boat, and a distinctive brown strip that crosses both eyes like a mask.

They are intelligent birds and can remember people's faces, which makes me wonder if this clever fellow will remember I was the sucker eating the sausage sandwich.   

The creamy chest of the Kookaburra pops against the blue Aussie sky.

The Kookaburra captured my attention again while I was vacationing with my family in a houseboat on the Hawkesbury River just outside Sydney.

Our beautiful weekend houseboat included a full kitchen, barbecue, fishing rods, bedrooms, a bathroom, a large upper deck, and lower decks wrapped around the boat.

Our beautiful houseboat!

To avoid running aground, we used dinghies to explore river areas too narrow or shallow for the houseboat. 

We would take the dinghy to get off the boat, dock it on the river's edge, and enjoy some Hawkesbury land tourist activities and shops. 

Dinghy

It was very dark on our first night on the water, and with no light coming from other sources, the night sky was majestic! 

Because Australia is in the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres, its galactic and intergalactic objects in space differ from those in the U.S. because the states are in the Northern and Western Hemispheres.

The brightest stars in the galaxy, like Sirius and Canopus, are in the Southern Hemisphere.

The commonly known Southern Cross constellation, which can also be seen from Australia, is depicted on the country's national flag.  

The Australian National Flag: The star that stands alone on the left has 6 points, each denoting the six states of Australia. The remaining five stars on the right represent the star constellation of the Southern Cross. 

Looking up from the top deck of the houseboat, I had never seen so many lights.  

I was mesmerized by the starry night sky when the sound of a crying baby from a distance diverted my attention.

The crying quickly changed into a chorus of screeches, whirring, and cackles resembling the sound of a troop of chimpanzees in the deepest part of a jungle. 

Right then and there, I knew what I knew: I was not in the U.S., and that was no crying baby!

Listen to the Kookaburra Cackle!

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Credit - Kookaburra Sound: 'Supplied, courtesy of NSW Dept of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.  (https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/native-animal-facts/laughing-kookaburra)

Credit - Photo: Sistah in Oz

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Stereotypical or not, like many Americans, I'm afraid of Australia's wildlife, many of which are deadly and found nowhere else on the planet. 

So, when I heard creepy cackles coming from "Lord knows what" and "from who knows where," that was the last thing I needed, especially while docked in uncharted waters on an Australian river!

I asked my son-in-law about the eerie sounds, and he said, "Oh, that's just the Kookaburra's laughing."

My first thought was, "Kookaburra! That's that cheeky carnivore that ate my sandwich!"

My second was: "Not funny!" 

Kookaburra perched on a goalpost at puppy park, looking back.

While the Kookaburra's actual name comes from the aboriginal name "guuguuberra," it has other nicknames, like "bushman's clock" or "breakfast bird." 

Their outrageous calls are so dependably vocal at dusk and dawn that you can set your watch by them - and loud enough that any creature with ears can hear them from miles away.

Bev, a friend from England who frequently visits Sydney, refers to the Kookaburra as the monkey bird, which cracks me up every time she says it!

This Kookaburra is showing off his best side.

But the common nickname for this cheeky bird with a raucous voice is "Laughing Kookaburra." 

It's got to be the coolest bird on the planet. 

It's good-looking, has facial recognition abilities, a human personality type (thief), and outstanding vocal skills that mimic chuckling, crying, and laughter—which, when strung together, sounds like monkey chatter! 

Kookaburra at the Oval car park.

If you're old enough to remember the movie "Tarzan The Ape Man," starring Johnny Weissmuller like I am, the jungle sounds used in the film came from recorded stock sound effects of Kookaburras.

These recordings are also in many other movies involving jungle scenes, such as "The Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Cape Fear," "The Lost World, Jurassic Park," "The Twilight Zone," and many more, including Sistah in Oz's favorite, the haunted forest scene from "The Wizard of Oz!"  

Forest areas in Australia are called "bush!" 

Australia's indigenous communities regard the Kookaburra as a messenger of good luck, joy, happiness, and fertility - good vibes!

Before visiting Sydney, I only knew about Kookaburras from a song I learned at Brownie camp, "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." 

Marion Sinclair wrote it as a nursery rhyme.

My sister, Terry, and I loved singing the song at camp, but I admit I only really understood the lyrics after I got to know the bird! 

A Kookaburra sitting in a gum tree, aka, eucalyptus.

A crafty meat-eating bird that steals your lunch  . . .  

A talented, noisy bird, skillful at mimicking a repertoire of jungle sounds . . . 

A brilliant bird with an extraordinary memory that can recognize human faces . . . 

. . .  I am NOT in Kansas!

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Cicadas

Some of us in the US are accustomed to hearing the loud chirping of crickets at dusk on a warm summer's eve, but in Sydney, it's the cicadas you hear causing the ruckus and not just in the evening, but in the morning, afternoon, mid-day and at night. 

From October to mid-December, which is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the cicadas never take a rest or give us one from their constant high-pitched buzzing, squawking, and clicking noises, which males make to attract females.    

Cicadas belong to the insect order Homoptera, which identifies them as 'true bugs.'  

The most commonly found adult cicada in Sydney is the Greengrocer. They are full-bodied bugs with broad heads, transparent veined wings, and large compound eyes. They can be green, yellow, or blue.    

I found the cicada bug below lying on the ground while on a trip to Far North Queensland - dead but totally intact!

Although its fairy-like wings are green, it's not a Greengrocer.

If you can identify this cicada bug species, comment below, and I will credit you.

Cicadas are infamous for their earsplitting mating calls, which many people mistake for crickets, katydids, and locusts; however, calls from the latter-mentioned insects are not as boisterous, and they are more related to grasshoppers which are from a different insect order.

Unlike some insects, cicadas don't bite, sting, or attack humans, pets, household gardens, or crops; however, they are not harmless.  

They feed on sap from various woody plants and trees, including eucalyptus trees, and lay eggs in the slits of tree branches; however, mature trees are not affected by this action because they can regrow new limbs - newly planted trees are vulnerable to damage.

Also, compared to similar bugs, cicadas are the loudest and can produce a sound reaching 90 to 100 decibels, damaging hearing.  

Some larger species of cicadas have mating calls that can reach 120 decibels or higher at close range.

A gunshot is 140 decibels!

Cicadas have organs called tymbals, membranes that vibrate quickly to create loud clicking sounds, attracting females as far as a mile away.  

Underbelly of a cicada

The intensity of their tone takes over the soundscape and wards off other male cicadas. It interferes with bird vocalization, making it difficult for birds to hunt in groups during the day.

Cicadas protect their eardrums (tympanals) from the noises they make by covering them with a short tendon.   

Cleaver!

Likewise, folks should cover their ears when they hear a blaring cicada chorus.  

Cicada sounds from outside the house.

One evening after Sunday dinner, we decided to walk off the meal.  

A well-defined hilly bush area is up the street from our house, perfect for an evening stroll. 

It is on a dead-end road with little or no traffic and is void of many homes, although a few sit atop hills hidden from view.

The second we opened our front door, the noisiness from the bugs overwhelmed us. 

It was like being serenaded by a full cicada orchestra.

I typically would not have taken that walk alone because the sun had started to set, and bush areas are habitats for many Aussie animals.  

As often as I have come to Sydney, I am still leery of coming face-to-face with animals I don't understand.

We reached the bush-lined road just a few minutes into the walk when I spotted several trees covered with cicada molts (exoskeletons) - evidence that many cicada nymphs had shed their skins.    

Cicada exoskeletons on a nearby tree

Aussie cicadas live as nymphs underground for 6-7 years or more before coming to the surface to molt and become adult bugs, leaving their skeleton (skins) behind, stuck to the wood surface.  

In North America, cicada nymphs are underground for 13 to 17 years. 

Cicada nymph

Earlier that day, I noticed a cicada nymph ready to shed and a couple of exoskeletons on our front garden fence.   

This is just one section of the fence - the cicada skins are actually scattered all along the wood slats. 

Exoskeleton closeup

After molting, it takes about 30 minutes before a new shell starts to harden, and its wings fill with blood so it can fly and find its voice!   

Once fully grown, they only live for about six weeks.

The mating calls grew louder as we walked along the bush-lined road and closer to the dead-end. 

Cicadas are known to call from high up in the trees, but that night it was as if the sound was coming from every direction.

We had stopped walking and stood in the dark, surrounded by bush, up a hill, on a narrow winding road, as the cicadas belted out their favorite tunes in their highest volume. 

It was impossible to talk over, so we turned back and headed home.

The following day the cicadas were still screaming.  

While walking the dog around the neighborhood oval, a city gardener approached me, saying, "Better take the blankets off the bed tonight because when the cicadas are this noisy, it's going to be hot!"

Apparently, cicadas love the heat and will rev up the chorus and crank out their loudest songs on hot days or nights.  

For me, this makes cicadas the sound of summer in Sydney.  

When it comes to men and women, the strong silent type may get the girl, but when it comes to the cicada bugs - clamoring for attention is the way to go!

Cicada ruckus, morning, noon, and night . . . 

Molts, skins, & exoskeletons stuck on trees and wooden fences. . .

Insects that can predict hot weather . . .

I am NOT in Kansas!

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Prawns

Is it shrimp or not?

My introduction to prawns was at my daughter's dinner table a few years ago in Sydney, and my immediate reaction was not good. In Australia, prawns are sold, prepared, and served with their heads still attached. 

How food looks sets my expectations, and even though I was famished, I wasn't about to eat the prawn. 

In the US, they take the heads off dead animals to spare us from having to look into their eyes before we eat them.

I picked up the prawn and fixated on its face. Its eyes, round and beady, were popping out, and the long stringy antennas hanging from the jaws of the creature were startling.

I mean, did she expect me to eat it?  

I remember lecturing my daughters on the importance of expanding their horizons by trying new foods and learning about other cultures. I didn't want to be a hypocrite, although that's what I felt like looking at that prawn!

So, I got the courage to pick up the critter and was about to eat it when my daughter asked, "Mommy, do you want me to take the head off?" 

Eww!

'I'll slip another shrimp on the barbie for you' is NOT a phrase you'll likely hear while visiting the land Down Under. 

A barbie in Australia is their term for a barb-e-cue grill, prawn is the word for shrimp, and Down Under is associated with Australia because the continent is located in the southern hemisphere, below or down under the equator.

When the Australian Tourism Commission wanted to entice Americans to visit their country, they substituted the word prawn for shrimp in their marketing ads because of Americans' familiarity with the term.

They hired the Aussie actor Paul Hogan, aka Crocodile Dundee, to deliver the infamous line that ran in the ads from the mid-1980s-1990.

While folks in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK call all shrimp prawns, the latter is a word rarely used in the US, except for a few folks, none I know, who may refer to jumbo shrimp as prawn because prawns are so large.

For me, the prawn vs. shrimp debate raises questions: Is there a difference between the two, or is this just a simple case of the idiomatic phrase tomayto, tomahto? 

Fresh Prawns

In Sydney, the terms prawn and shrimp are used interchangeably, which can be confusing.

It is correct that they look alike and have heads, thoraxes, abdomens, antennas, gills, fan-tails, and faces, but that is where their similarities end.

The head of the prawn overlaps the thorax, followed by an overlapping over the body, like shingles on a roof. The thorax of a shrimp overlaps the head and core together, more like a cummerbund. 

A shrimp's body is curved, but the body of a prawn is straight. Furthermore, shrimp has claws on one pair of legs, and prawns have them on three. 

These physical characteristics alone make them anatomically different. 

Both prawns and shrimp are bottom dwellers who feed on anything; however, prawns are aquatic creatures primarily found in fresh or brackish water. 

Shrimp, conversely, are marine animals that can survive in fresh or salty water but prefer to swim along the bottom of oceans and seas.  

As a result, having been marinated in brine, shrimp are slightly more salted and not as sweet as prawns, 

Fresh Shrimp

Shrimp and prawns are from the family of decapods crustaceans, but prawns fall under the dendrobranchiate suborder, and shrimp belong to the pleocyemata suborder.  

While this may make them related, they are not the same.

Living in Virginia Beach, we have a lot of porpoises that swim in social groups near the shore. 

Most tourists visiting the beach see the porpoises but call them dolphins because they can't differentiate, a mistake I made when I first moved to Virginia Beach.

However, they are not the same. Porpoises belong to the Phocoenidae suborder, and the dolphin's suborder is Delphinidae.

The same is true for crocodiles and alligators. They are both massive scary reptiles with similar features and will bite when provoked, but almost everything else is different.  

While they come from the same reptilian order, they are classified as different animals because they come from other families.  Crocodiles come from the Crocodylidae family, and the alligators family is Alligatoridae.  

They also enjoy different habitats; crocodiles prefer salt water, and alligators like fresh.

So, is the prawn vs. shrimp debate a simple case of the idiomatic phrase tomayto, tomahto? 

Absolutely not! 

That saying refers to an item being the same but pronounced differently.

My son-in-law and I are constantly debating about Aussie foods that are supposed to be the same as American, but to me, they are not. 

If he were to say a prawn is like a shrimp, I would agree.

So, what is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this post? Is it shrimp or not? 

You tell me!

Trust me, after living in America for my entire life, when a food item is an imposter, I know it. 

I finally got up my nerve to eat the prawn. It was too fleshy and fishy for my palate; however, I love the taste of shrimp!

Prawns vs. shrimp . . . 

Slip another shrimp on the barbie . . . 

Should I take the head off ?. . .

I am NOT in Kansas!

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