Size: The smallest kookaburra species. Length; 40cm. Females are usually larger than males.

Habitat and Distribution: The Blue-winged Kookaburra is found in coastal and sub-coastal woodlands and swamps along the northern coast of Australia, roughly between Broome and Brisbane and southern New Guinea.

Age: Up to 20 years in captivity.

Groups and Breeding: Like the Laughing Kookaburra this species lives in family groups laying 2 to 4 eggs. The nests are high up (up to 25m) in tree hollows or abandoned termite nests.

Diet: Blue-winged Kookaburras eat a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates. They consume mainly insects, reptiles and frogs in the wetter months, and fish, snakes, earthworms and small birds and mammals during the rest of the year.

• Kookaburras are actually a type of kingfisher.
• This species was named after the British naturalist William Elwood Leach who was head of zoology at the British Museum in the early 1800s.
• The kookaburra’s bill has a special groove at the end of the upper mandible which helps to hold prey.
• Like owls, this species will regurgitate pellets of undigested prey items such as bones and hair etc.
• The name kookaburra comes from the Wiradjuri (an indigenous Australian language which is no longer used) word guuguubarra which describes the kookaburras’ call.