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A very fine pair of images indeed, the copyrighted work of Malaysian photographer Laurence Poh. The bird is, of course, the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae). Some years ago, on a visit to Australia, the webmaster remembers seeing this bird close up in the wild & was astonished to see how very big the bird really is. It is 45 cm. or about 18 inches long & the beak is truly formidable.

Laurence used to have many hundreds of his images available online, at a now long gone 'photopoint' website, but also has his own website here. If you enjoy quality bird images you would enjoy a visit, I know. I found these particular images in the Australian birds section of Laurence's own site many years ago. But today, in 2009 as this site must move to a new location, I cannot spot these particular images on Laurence's 17 image pages. You will be interested to know that they were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 950 or 990 digital camera in combination with a Leica spotting telescope. And if you want to learn how to do something similar, Laurence has a page to help you do just that, a page that also includes links to many other 'digiscopers' around the world. Laurence, we thank you!