The kookaburras came from a breeder in California. They're native to Australia & introduced to New Zealand, and are the second-largest kingfisher species after African Giant kingfishers. Their call is widely known as a classic jungle sound, often mistaken for monkeys. The
Honolulu Zoo site has a great sound clip of the Kook laugh.
Sydney will be 3 this year, and Bindi is turning 2, so hopefully they'll become reproductive this season. We're in the process of building them a floor-to-ceiling enclosure (we operate a retail pet store & the kooks are a main attraction) with multiple branches & cork-bark hides.
Kooks are carnivorous, and mine eat a diet primarily consisting of frozen-thawed mice (we also maintain a reptile breeding facility, so rodents abound), shiners (fish), night crawlers, hornworms, and occasionally a giant hissing roach if they're up for it. Kookaburras will also *try* to eat anything smaller than them, so they don't mix well with other pets necessarily. Ours even have no problem going after the cats if the cats get too close.
In this state we're required to have a permit to import & keep them since they're not specifically on the list of "allowed" animals, but not designated as "not allowed" either. So, with permits, shipping & DNA sexing, the pair ran right around $1500.
Both birds are very handleable, and I can get them to call to me pretty readily, most easily in the morning & evening. They will "laugh" throughout the day depending on mood. They're not lovey-dovey like a hand-raised parrot would be, but are very tolerant of handling & interaction.
They're some of my all-time favorite critters, so let me know if I can answer any more questions about them.