The blue-winged kookaburra (Dacelo leachii) is a large species of kingfisher native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea.

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 officially described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1826, its specific name commemorating British zoologist William Elford Leach.

[4] 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.

[3] The blue-winged kookaburra hunts and eats a great variety of animals that live on or close to the ground.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.