The Great Canadian Kookaburra

We were talking about the symbols on Canadian coins during math last week. The students did a good job identifying the maple leaf, the beaver, the sailboat, and even the caribou. But no one in my class was able to remember what animal was on the one dollar coin. Here are the responses I got:

• duck
• goose
  
• swan
• no, really a duck
• Canada goose (good guess at least)
• blue bird
• flamingo
  
• but I think it's a duck
• owl
• eagle
• crow
• It's a duck!
• magpie
  
• kookaburra

I refused to tell them what animal it is. They all had homework to find out. I'm sure they must wonder why it's called a Loonie.