Hello birdwatchers,

An interesting bird has been visiting the gully near my house recently.

The bird is part of a Kookaburra family that lives in my area... but instead of having a cream belly it is pretty much all black. None of my bird books or any googling could suggest to me exactly what type of bird this was... (I was thinking baby Kooka except it was full size?? or perhaps a different but somehow closely related species??) but not a single useful reference could I find..

i.e. the following Kookaburra links shed no light on the bird in question
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=37
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra

I posted a query on scribbygum and the wise people there suggested that this was indeed a Kookaburra but one with a genetic mutation called hyper-melanism. Apparently it is a similar mutation (but opposite to) albinism and it is very rare..

Full Scribblygum topic here...
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/348/topic348905.shtm

I've done some more googling and research on this and it seems an extremely rare condition for birds (i.e. I can find some references to reptiles having this condition but no solid references to birds).

Is this something exciting that I should bring to the attention of my local bird watching group?? Or is this something most keen bird watchers would have encountered before.

I have to admit that it is quiet a striking looking bird. It has returned to visit on a number of occasions and I'm quite excited to get a glimpse of it - it must be said that the bird is rather non-plussed at seeing me with my camera and does a very good job at giving me the freaky 'evil eye'.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts...
Cheers
Wook

PS: Thanks to Booshkie who alerted me to this forum... via this thread...
http://birdsinbackyards.net/forum/messages.cfm?threadid=382117BC-A0AD-FD17-147C8AFC1709F008

PPS: More photos of the Black Kookaburra can be seen here:

http://www.lavis.id.au/gallery/v/Tods-Photos/20072008-BackyardVisitors/BlackKookaburra/

And this is the story of how he/she came to my attention:

Black Kookaburra

We have a gang of Kookaburras that inhabit the reserve next to our house. This afternoon an extended and quite enthusiastic bout of cackling raised my curiosity and I went to investigate. I was surprised to see ten to fourteen kookaburras in close proximity as usually there is only about five to be seen at any one time. A closer look showed they were gathered around two Kookaburras who were locked at the beak over a sizeable morsel of food (possibly a mouse?).

One of the Kookaburras was black (Anyone seen a Black Kookaburra before?) and at first I thought it was a baby being fed by it's mother... but this was no motherly feeding lesson.

The two duelling birds were making a mighty racket and seemed to be trying their hardest to make the other open their beak by contagious laugher. The battle must have went on for 45 minutes and at times included additional birds (none of whom seemed to be able to get a good enough grip on the morsel at stake)...

In the end the Black Kookaburra jumped off the branch and hung its full weight on the food bundle for a while before the white Kookaburra could hang on no longer.

The black Kookaburra then flew off to a neighbouring tree to tell the world all about his major victory.

An intriguing sight. 

Here is the winner with his prize :)

He truley does look different, I wonder if he is accepted by the others. I have to say I have never seen this strong colour difference before. I have seen a brown kookaburra before but never black.

>>I wonder if he is accepted by the others

Well the first day I saw him was the day of the big ruckus, but that was over food, which I presume is normal behaviour.
Since that day I have kept and eye out and he comes around a bit. So far I have only seen him solo, but I have not seen any other Kookaburra's giving him a hard time either... I'll continue to keep an eye out and report back in a week or so.

Additional sightings and more photos :)
http://www.lavis.id.au/gallery/v/Tods-Photos/20072008-BackyardVisitors/BlackKookaburra/AdditionalSightings/

The following photo clearly shows his wing and tail markings (click to view fullsize)
http://www.lavis.id.au/gallery/v/Tods-Photos/20072008-BackyardVisitors/BlackKookaburra/AdditionalSightings/IMG_7596.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

The above photo shows his head colourings he still has the Kookaburra brown stripe through the eye

(Click to view fullsize)
http://www.lavis.id.au/gallery/v/Tods-Photos/20072008-BackyardVisitors/BlackKookaburra/AdditionalSightings/IMG_7612.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Wow! I've never seen a bird like that before. I wonder what the expert birders will say about him/her, too.

Hey Wookiebreath I spotted a young black Kookaburra ( complete with spikey head feathers) on the golf course yesterday. Definately something to get excited about.

Beautiful bird almost black and gold. It had that same leering gase you mentioned when I approached it. It hopped away when I approached but did not fly off. I dont think it was well. There was an adult nearby but there was no attempt to feed the young bird.

I have some pics but they are pixalated (from my mobile. Will post a couple later.
Cheers!

I found this news article:
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2008/11/20/23575_hpphoto.html

- soakes

Very interesting

Such a mutation in a prey species would make them significantly more vulnerable to attack by predators but that is not really an issue for the kookaburra.

That Townsville Bulletin article pointed out that oddly coloured birds dont do well as they have trouble fitting in with the group but that doesnt seem to be happening here.
You have to wonder whether the birds really "see" or care about colour and whether it would be a factor in choosing a mate.

I dont know alot about genetics, but I assume his family members may also carry this gene and as such it would be interesting to note if these occurances happen more often in this particular territory.

Hi! all. Below are the pix (ilated) from yesterday.

I'm hoping that Wookiebreath might give us an update on his bird which started this string last year.

Have you got your ears on Wokkiebreath?

Magpie, I have been walking Oxley golf club since 1997 and this is the first I’d seen. The local Kookaburra population has increased recently with the return to normal rainfalls. This genetic aberration may be a once in x generations thing. Or it might reside within the male genes so little chance of it becoming an established trait. Descriptions of the Kookaburra social structure I have read would suggest that a black bird would never get a chance to breed as it’s generally only the prime pair in a clan that will successfully breed.

Fascinating stuff, cheers!

Hey VJ,

Great to see your photos!
The link to the Townsville newspaper was interesting too... (My local paper didn't seem to be that interested when I contacted them last year).

We haven't seen a return of the black Kooka to our gully at all this summer. In fact we have had hardly any Kooka's here at all so hopefully he is out there somewhere with him mates enjoying new surroundings.

Wook

I was on Oxley Golf course yesterday a'noon and spotted the Black Kookaburra that I posted on 02/03/09. It looked a bit skinny but he/she is clearly very young.

Anyway the Noisy Miners were in the process of moving on the Kookaburra group, as they do. They left her/him till last, I thought maybe it would not be recognised as a threat, but they all came back and started harrassing and harranging. It flew off quite strongly,(an impressive wingspan) seeming unfazed, into thicker scrub 30meters away.

I'm still excited.
Cheers!

Hello all. I have just joined this site today as I wanted to find out about a bird that was in my backyard this morning at about 6.50am. It looked very much like a kookaburra but was completely black in colour, with the exception of half of the bottom beak area, which was cream. I would not say it was tame, but allowed me to move to about 1 metre from it, enabling me to take a few photographs of it. I will try to upload some pix in the near future. I live in the Park Ridge South area which is about 30 kilometres south west of Brisbane. I have found this site to be a very comprehensive and informative site. Keep it up.

Wow, it's amazing how many of you guys have come in contact with such a rare thing! Look forward to see some photos from ya Lesm.

Hi! Lesm49. I just checked the maps and our two sightings are ~ 18Kms apart could be the same bird ... Look fwd to the images Cheers!

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http://www.lesandphyl.com/Birds___Animals.htm

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