Blue-winged kookaburra Blue-winged kookaburra The blue-winged kookaburra ("Dacelo leachii") is a large species of kingfisher native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Measuring around , it is slightly smaller than the more familiar laughing kookaburra. It has cream-coloured upper- and underparts barred with brownish markings. It has blue wings and brown shoulders and blue rump. It is sexually dimorphic, with a blue tail in the male, and a rufous tail with blackish bars in the female. The blue-winged kookaburra was first collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, but was initially overlooked and confused with the laughing kookaburra, and was finally
Carnarvon Gorge humans, due to hand-feeding which is against Park regulations. This situation is of concern to Park rangers as it allows opportunistic species, such as the laughing kookaburra ("Dacelo novaeguineae") and the pied currawong ("Strepera graculina"), to develop population sizes that are abnormally large. When visitation (and therefore hand-feeding) tapers off over the summer low tourism season the abnormal populations place abnormal pressure on the species' natural food sources which can include the young of other bird species. Australian bustards ("Ardeotis australis") are frequently seen in farmland on approach to the Gorge, along with brolgas if the weather has been wet.