Irrigation time again. When we arrived on the farm to shift pipes this afternoon this blue-winged kookaburra was using the power lines as a look out point. She was diving into the wet earth catching earthworms. (You can see her muddy beak if you look closely.) This is a female. The male has a dark blue tail while the female has a dark brown tail and is a more slender body than the male. Not as attractive as the laughing kookaburra but I do like the blue on the wings.
They have such huge bills! I think they must be related to our kingfishers from your description of their behavior and their general appearance. The blue wings are very attractive, and I think her "do" is very fashionable. I've been told that birds' feathers are not really blue--it is light refraction that makes them look that way.
