STARLINGS, sparrows and seagulls are familiar sights in west Cornwall but what about a bird of prey more commonly seen in the Australian bush?
That was the peculiar sight that greeted Barbora Kamhalova while walking her puppy near Penzance on Monday morning.
Spotting a kookaburra stuck in a tree near her Trereife home, she called her partner Caleb Munday to rescue it.
Armed with a ladder, the 34-year-old scaled the tree and untangled the bird, which was hanging upside-down after becoming caught in the branches.
"It has got a big beak but luckily it didn't peck me," he said.
After rescuing the stricken bird, Mr Munday put it in a box and took it to his Mousehole business, Hole Foods Deli, before trying to track down the owner.
"Kookaburras normally have a very distinctive laugh but this one wasn't too happy being in a box," he said.
"We kept it in the deli and people kept coming in saying, 'are you sure it is a kookaburra because they are from Australia?"
Phoning Paradise Park, Hayle, for advice, the deli manager and owner was told how to feed and care for the white and brown-feathered bird while the search for its home continued.
"We do hear some mad stories here and that is certainly a mad one," said Nick Reynolds, director and one of the owners of Paradise Park.
"I have never had anyone call to say they have found a kookaburra before but people do come across strange animals."
He added that people do sometimes keep and train the birds as pets and Paradise Park has five of its own kookaburras which fly in shows.
After spreading the word about his exotic winged find, Mr Munday received a call from the bird's owner and they were reunited the same day.
