TG, A kookaburra is a type of knigfisher. The blue kingfishers look like kookas but are much smaller, 15-20cms and a beautiful electric blue (best way to describe it) colour. You would know it if you saw it. There are other varieties but they are the most common. The blue winged kookas have a pale blue where MMs is white on the wing. Blue winged are generally found on the eastern coast, usually in the northern parts. When I was a child in Brisbane, we raised a blue wing when it fell out of a nest. We never locked it up so used to come and go for many years.

the leaves are very sticky, had yellow flowers that turned into the green tear shaped pods (if you look close at the picture) and never produced anything.

I garden in deer country and I make a serious effort to grow almost nothing that is really appealing to them--no hostas, only 6 day lilies, no yews, only two hydrangeas. in the shade garden, where they tend to enter the yard, the only appealing plant is Solomon's seal (which they sometimes destroy) and Begonia grandis, which I keep sprayed. Other shade plants include Brunnera, Pulmonaria, Epimediums, ferns, primroses, Actea, Geranium macrorrhizum, etc. Ini the large sunny beds, plants are also highly deer resistant--Agastaches of many types, Salvias, Coreopsis, Irises, Pardancanda, Nepetas, Achilleas, peonies, etc. I feel that if you garden in deer country, there is very little point in planting a free lunch for deer when there are many alternatives.

This is very very very interesting! First thank you for answering. In the article you linked, "---The main point I’m trying to make about these interesting fungi is that they share common fruiting ground (and season) with Morels, in this case the Semifree Morel (Morchella semilibera). After all, they are in the same order of fungi. I’m not sure of other Morels association with cup fungi or all the science involved in why. I just know they do. ----" Last year, knowing that it is impossible to grow morel, I decided to waste some money and I bought some morel spores and threw the spores in the area where I found these cup fungi. Wow! This is giving me hope. I will let you guys know if I actually find morels. Very exciting! dcarch