BIRD - BLUE-WINGED KOOKABURRA

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Dacelo leachii
Halcyonidae

Though the Blue-winged Kookaburra is only slightly smaller than its more famous relative, the Laughing Kookaburra, it is, nevertheless, one of the world’s largest kingfishers. Blue-winged Kookaburras inhabit northern and north-eastern Australia, and this range overlaps with that of the Laughing Kookaburra in northern and eastern Queensland, where both species may inhabit the same forests or woodlands. Both emit a loud, raucous cackling call that has been described as ‘extended maniacal laughter’, but, alas, the Blue-winged Kookaburra’s laugh is said to ‘lack the same sense of humour’.

Description

The Blue-winged Kookaburra is a large kingfisher with a big square head and a long bill. It has a distinctive pale eye. 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.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 mottlings. There is slight geographical variation with plumage more buff in north-western Australia (race clifoni). The Blue-winged Kookaburra is also known as the Barking or Howling Jackass or Leach's Kookaburra. As they are shy and often quiet in the foliage they may be overlooked.

Similar Species

The Laughing Kookaburra, D. novaeguineae, is slightly larger with a slightly longer bill.The Blue-winged Kookaburra also has a head that is streaked white with a white rather than dark eye and no dark patch behind the eye. The Blue-winged Kookaburra has a bright blue wing patch and rump. The call is also quite different.

Feeding

Blue-winged Kookaburras eat 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. After a controlled dive with their bill open, food is grabbed from the ground. The bill has a special groove near the end of the upper mandible which helps in holding prey. After returning to a perch, the prey is beaten and then swallowed. They show extra care when snakes are the prey. Pellets of undigested items are regurgitated and found beneath daytime perches, roosting sites and nests.

Breeding

The nest site of the Blue-winged Kookaburra is mostly high (to about 25 m) up in natural tree hollows, sometimes in tree termite nests, or in a hole cut into the soft wood of a baobab tree. Typically, the floor of the chamber is lower than the entrance, with an overall length of 50 cm. The breeding pair share the incubation of the eggs and subsequent feeding, which extends for one to two months, and are often assisted by auxiliaries (helpers), mainly from the previous year's clutch.