Blue-winged Kookaburra
The Blue-winged Kookaburra is a large, stocky species of kingfisher native to Australia and New Guinea. They are named for their lovely blue wings; they also sport brown shoulders and blue rumps. Males have blue tails, while female tails are rufous.
Blue-winged Kookaburras are carnivorous. They are skilled land hunters and eat a wide variety of prey, including reptiles, frogs, small birds, snakes, insects, and small mammals.
Blue-winged Kookaburras are cooperative breeders, and will live in family groups of up to 12 birds. Their preferred habitat is open woodland, paperback swamp, or developed farmland.
Details & Statistics
- Least Concern (LC)
- Near Threatened (NT)
- Vulnerable (VU)
- Endangered (EN)
- Critically Endangered (CR)
- Extinct in the Wild (EW)
- Extinct (EX)
Conservation
The Blue-winged Kookaburra is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
International Names
