Whack-a-Mole

For many folks, the roiling call of the kookaburra is the most memorable trait of the species.  For me, it's the second.  What I remember the most about every kookaburra I've worked with (except for Bloke, who I mostly remember for repeatedly hammering me between the eyes when I tried checking on the nest one day) is feeding them.  That and how grateful I am that I'm too big to be considered suitable prey.

Kookaburras are birds that prey on small animals, but they aren't birds of prey.  They aren't eagles or hawks or falcons, with powerful talons and muscular legs.  The claws of the kookaburra are pretty non-existent.  The beak, while robust and strong, isn't very sharp.  How, then, to subdue and kill prey, which may include venomous snakes longer than the bird itself?  By cheerfully beating it to death on a handy branch.

Unlike a lot of feeding behaviors of predatory birds (such as the dive-bomb of a peregrine falcon), this is one that kookaburras can easily demonstrate in zoos.  They will perform it even if the prey in question is already dispatched, as their mice or other offered prey tend to be.  They'll swoop down (some have even been willing to take it out of my hand), fly back to their perch, and then whack it over and over again with a series of small but still audible thuds.  Then, down the hatch it goes, whole.

Kids run to the kookaburra exhibit whenever the birds start calling, attracted by their laughter.  Many try to laugh back at the kooks, seeing if they can provoke more calls.  But, the laughter tends to turn to stunned silence at feeding time, when the beatdown begins.