Blue-winged Kookaburra

The Blue-winged Kookaburra is a large kingfisher, slightly smaller than the laughing kookaburra. It has distinctive pale eyes, the head is off-white with brown streaks, the shoulders are sky blue and it has a uniform blue rump. The throat is plain white and the underparts are white with faint scalloped orange-brown bars and the back is mid-brown. Males have a dark blue tail while females' tails are barred red-brown or blackish, otherwise, the sexes are similar. The legs and feet are grey and the bill is dark above and yellowish below. Juveniles have paler streaks on the head with darker uneven spots.

The Blue-winged Kookaburra is found in coastal and sub-coastal areas in northwest and northeast Australia, Torres Strait and Southern New Guinea. It is widespread in the Gulf Country of Queensland extending South to about Toowoomba. It is also widespread in the top end of the Northern Territory.

The lifespan of the Blue-winged Kookaburra is 20 years or more.

The size of the Blue-winged Kookaburra is 38 - 42 centimetres in length, with an average weight of 310 grams.

The Blue-winged Kookaburra eats a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates. They consume mainly insects, reptiles and frogs in the wetter months, and fish, crayfish, scorpions, spiders, snakes, earthworms and small birds and mammals at other times.

Blue-winged Kookaburras are found in tropical and subtropical open woodlands, paperbark swamps, clearings, canefields and farmlands.

Breeding season is September - January, when the Blue-winged Kookaburra will construct a nest high (about 25 metres) up in the natural tree hollows and sometimes in tree termite nests. The breeding pair share the incubation of 2 - 5 eggs for about 26 days.