Blue-winged Kookaburra

Dacelo leachii

Family: Alcedinidae (Alcedinid Kingfishers, 10 species in Australia)
Size: 40-45 cm
Distribution: Within about 600 km of the coast of QLD, NT and most of Northern WA
Status: Common
Habitat: Open forests, woodlands, paperbark swamps
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

Very similar to the Laughing Kookaburra in appearance, but with blue wings, a pink bill and a darker blue tail.

It does not live in Sydney or the Blue Mountains but I took a nice photo of one at Australia Zoo so I have included it in this collection of Australian birds.

Blue-winged Kookaburra - Dacelo leachii
Photo: Australia Zoo, QLD

Blue-winged Kookaburra - Dacelo leachii
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

Field Guide to Australian Birds: Complete Compact Edition, by Michael Morcombe. Based on the above larger book. It's a while since I've seen this one. The publisher's commentary says that "This slimline, compact edition contains the same information on mainland and Tasmanian birds as his best-selling handbook, the Field Guide to Australian Birds. Features include plastic jacket, QuickFind system of colour tags and Quick Index ensure durability and ease of use in the field."

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

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