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BIRD FACTS
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Description
The Blue-winged Kookaburra is a stocky bird with large head and a short neck and blunt tail. Beak is fairly long and sturdy. It has a cream head with brown streaks. The wings and rump are blue. The throat is white and underparts are patterned with light orange-brown bars. Males have a dark blue tail while female tail is brown barred with some blue. The ye is white.
Size
40cm
Environment
Open woodlands, paperbark swamps, timber along watercourses, farmlands.
Food
large insects, lizards, snakes, amphibians, small mammals, birds Large prey is killed by swinging it against a branch or fence.
Breeding
hollow trees or holes in termite mounds on trees. The floor of the nesting hole is about 50cm from the entrance. 2-5 white eggs hatch after 26 day incubation.
Range
coastal and sub coastal areas in northwest and northeast Australia, Torres Strait and Southern New Guinea.
Notes
The Blue-winged Kookaburra has a harsher sound than the Laughing Kookaburra. The Laughing Kookaburra has a brown eye stripe - the Blue-winged Kookaburra does not. The Blue-winged kookaburra has a blue tail and a much more blue in the wing. The Blue-winged Kookaburra has a pale eye, the Laughing kookaburra has a brown eye.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Coraciiformes | | Family: | Alcedinidae | | Genus: | Dacelo | | Species: | leachii | | Common Name: | Blue-winged Kookaburra |
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