Widespread and common throughout its large range, the blue-winged kookaburra is evaluated as of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Found in family groups of up to 12 individuals, it lives in open savannah woodland and Melaleuca swamps, as well as farmlands such as sugarcane plantations. Feeding The blue-winged kookaburra hunts and eats a great variety of animals that live on or close to the ground. In the summer wet season, insects, lizards and frogs make up a higher proportion of their diet, while they eat arthropods such as crayfish, scorpions, and spiders, as well as fish, earthworms, small birds and rodents at other times. They have even been recorded waiting for and snatching insects flushed out by bushfires. Breeding The blue-winged kookaburra is a co-operative breeder, a group being made up of a breeding pair and one or more helper birds that help raise the young. Breeding occurs once a year in late spring (September to December). The nest is a hollow high up in a tree, often or so above the ground. Three or four white, slightly shiny eggs, measuring or a little larger, are laid. The female incubates the eggs around 26 days, and nestlings spend another 36 days in the nest before fledging. Chicks are born pink, blind, and naked (i.e. ), and break their way out of the egg with an egg tooth on the bill. Feathers appear by 7 days and their eyes open from the 10th day onwards. Kookaburra hatchlings are often highly aggressive in the first week of life, and the youngest chick is often killed by the older chicks during this period. Once fledged, juvenile birds must be taught how to hunt by their parents for a further 6–10 weeks before they can properly fend for themselves. Threats The red goshawk and rufous owl prey upon the blue-winged kookaburra. Adult birds are also slow flyers and vulnerable to being hit by cars on country roads. Nests are susceptible to raids by olive pythons, quolls, and goannas. Gallery References Cited text External links BirdLife Species Factsheet Photos, audio and video of blue-winged kookaburra from Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library Recordings of blue-winged kookaburra from Xeno-canto sound archive blue-winged kookaburra Birds of New Guinea Birds of the Northern Territory Birds of Queensland Birds of Western Australia blue-winged kookaburra Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors