a comprehensive resource of avian hand rearing techniques for captive bird populations

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Dacelo leachi

Coraciiformes - Alcedinidae - Kingfishers

Blue-winged Kookaburra - Juvenile

© Davide Frigo

Blue-winged Kookaburra - JuvenileBlue-winged Kookaburra - Chick

Distribution: Northern Australia. D.l. occidentalis Western Australia. D.l. intermedia South & south East New Guinea. D.l. cervina Melville Island.

Habitat: Savanna woodland and eucalypt open woodland & forest.

Diet: Invertebrates, small fish, frogs, lizards, snakes, small birds & bird eggs and small mammals

Breeding: Usually breeding pair and previous years young, prepare & defend nest, and incubate eggs. Nest in unlined tree hole.

Clutch size: 2 - 3 eggs

Incubation: 25-26 days

Rearing: Chicks brooded and fed by pair and previous years offspring.

Fledge age: 36 days

Protocols

Protocol from Cotswold Wildlife Park

View Cotswold Wildlife Park protocol file >

Protocol established 2010
Used on 1 individuals
Success rate 100.00%

Rating

Protocol used for at least 5 individuals with over 75% success 
Used by 2 or more institutions 
Points on minimizing imprinting 
Birds went on to produce fertile eggs 
Birds went on to successfully parent rear 

Warning points
None

Please keep us up-to-date and contact us with your own updates or new protocols for rearing the Blue-winged Kookaburra.

References

Breeding and hand-rearing the Blue-winged kookaburra at the Royal Melbourne Zoo. R.W. DUNN. International Zoo Yearbook. Vol 23. Pages 181 - 183

Handbook Of The Birds Of The World. Vol 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona

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