I believe Kookaburras will defend nest hollows against goannas, as they are nest predators. A
blue tongue lizard
if too big to take to feed on could be attacked for nest defence, even if the risk is minimal or non existent from this species. Not unreasonable if they may not differentiate between a predator and another reptile. I well recall the story I observed and wrote
up in CBN years ago of many birds (not including kookaburras) mounting a spirited attack on a baseball glove, that presumably because of its fingers and leather stitching even I thought looked reptilian. I wonder if a kookaburra would even be capable of lifting
such a big prey item.
(This one is serious and not submitted in very obvious fiction, as was my fox comment).
Philip
From: Marg Peachey [
Sent: Monday, 12 October 2015 3:11 PM
To: Stephanie Haygarth
Cc: canberrabirds chatline
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Kookaburra vs blue tongue
The kooka would probably be looking for dinner to feed it's chicks. They prey on lizards, but you are right - this one is large. I would even guess she is gravid, about to have babies herself.
On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 3:06 PM, Stephanie Haygarth <> wrote:
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
