Kookaburras are no laughing matter when it comes to what they are doing to Tasmania’s fragile environment.
They might appear the lovable larrikins of the bush but they are a bird out of time and place in our state. The kookaburra does not belong here – it’s a creation of the whim, and may I say stupidity that abounded in the last century.
Kookaburras are an introduced species, brought here from the mainland where they naturally belong at the time of federation in 1901. The reason was to “unite the new nation” by giving Tasmania the iconic flora and fauna found in other states.
From day one the kookaburra was out of synch with the complex Tasmanian environment and soon became a pest, killing smaller birds native to the state, along with reptile and amphibian species.
At first they were tolerated as they went, with many Tasmanians believing that they were actually native to the state.
Tasmanians, along with Australians at large, love kookaburras, especially for that maniacal call that really does sound like people laughing hysterically after being told a naughty joke.
The joke is wearing a little thin now, however, as the kookaburras moves out of the farming and suburban areas they have colonised and slowly spread into untamed wilderness.
The latest Birdlife Tasmania surveys show the kookaburra is now on the doorstep of the South-West Wilderness World Heritage Area and the state’s wildlife authorities warned earlier this month selective culls of the birds may be needed.
The kookaburra menace has grown in recent years as Tasmania has suffered drought and then bushfires in rainforest and on moorland, high rainfall areas which had previously resisted conflagration.
Burned and disturbed vegetation suits the kookaburra, a bird which normally favours open dry forest where their main prey of snakes and lizards are easily hunted. The kookaburra, though, also seeks out young birds, and will watch nests until the young are of sufficient size to make a decent meal.
I can attest to the kookaburra’s cunning. They tend to overfly my native garden – too wet for them – on their way to a more happy hunting ground at the Waterworks Reserve where they cadge snags at the BBQ sites. But after rain in summer they always turn up. The tree frogs start to call then, and the kookaburras are waiting to pounce, once, with cocked heads, they have identified where the treefrogs are calling from.
Any cull of kookaburras is bound to meet with stiff resistance and Premier Peter Gutwein was quick to downplay reports of such a plan.
“The Government, in this particular area, is not intending a cull but we will work with the experts to ensure we get the balance right,” he said.
Birdlife Tasmania convener Eric Woehler said more research was needed to best understand the species’ impact on the state’s flora and fauna.
Meanwhile, the pressure is off the kookaburra as it spears snags and left-over hamburgers at the Waterworks Reserve but time will tell if it gets the last laugh.