laughing jackass (redirected from laughing owl)

laughing jackass: see kookaburra.

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kookaburra

 or laughing jackass

Kookaburra (Dacelo gigas)

(credit: Bucky Reeves from The National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers)

Eastern Australian species (Dacelo gigas) of forest kingfisher (subfamily Daceloninae). Its call, which sounds like fiendish laughter, can be heard very early in the morning and just after sunset. A gray-brown, woodland-dwelling bird, it reaches a length of 17 in. (43 cm), with a 3.2–4-in. (8–10-cm) beak. In its native habitat it eats invertebrates and small vertebrates, including venomous snakes. In western Australia and New Zealand, where it has been introduced, it has been known to attack chickens and ducklings.

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laughing jackass

bird whose cry brings in daylight. [Euahlayi Legend: How the People Sang The Mountains Up, 19]

See : Dawn