! Blue-winged Kookaburra ! Tropical Rainforest, North Queensland, Australia

BLUE-WINGED KOOKABURRA

Photo: C & D Frith
Australian Tropical Birds

BLUE-WINGED KOOKABURRA
Dacelo leachii 43 cm

Identifying characteristcs:

Has a large, cream-white head that is streaked brown.
It has a brown back and its wings are mostly blue.
The rump and tail are also blue on the male, but the female has a reddish-brown barred tail.

Differences from Laughing Kookaburra are: blue rump, cream-white head and light eye colour.

Distribution and Habitat:

In Australia the Blue-winged Kookaburra is distributed widely in tropical and subtropical eucalypt woodlands.

It lives in eucalypt forests and paperbark swamps.

Diet:

Live on a wide variety of prey including snakes, lizards, large insects, small mammals, frogs and the odd small bird.

Additional Information:

This species differs from the better known 'Laughing Kookaburra' in having a relatively bigger, more streaked head, and much more prettier blue areas on the wing.
The call is not as much a rolling laugh, but a loud, screaming cackle.
It essentially lives in the woodlands across the tropical top of Australia, extending down the east coast into north-eastern N.S.W.