Kookaburra vs blue tongue

[Stephanie Haygarth <>]

Today on Mt Ainslie we heard a strong kooka alarm/warning call.  We followed it and found the bird swooping at the ground. Thinking it might be a snake or monitor we looked closer only to find a blue tongue lizard was the bird's focus.   On looking closely at the lizard we noticed a fresh wound on its side (see image) presumably made by the kooka.  We also saw that the kooka had its nest in a hollow directly above (the bird flew into and out of it while we were there).  We were surprised that a kookaburra would object so strongly to a blue tongue in this way; we assume the bird was not preying on the lizard as it would seem to be too big to carry to the nest.

Matthew and Stephanie

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