Two unusual albino blue-winged kookaburra chicks found in Queensland, Australia
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
A pair of extremely unusual albino blue-winged kookaburra chicks have been found in Queensland, Australia, where they are being cared for at a wildlife hospital after apparently falling out of their nest in a storm.
The two birds, believed to be sisters about 6 weeks old, are the first known albino specimens of their species in Australia.
‘Luckily, this farmer found and saved them; they’re the real heroes, because probably within the next day they would be dead,’ Harry Kunz, founder of the Eagle’s Nest Wildlife Hospital in Ravenshoe, Queensland, told Agence France-Presse. Their bright coloring would make them an easy target for predators in the wild.
The birds are reportedly in good health and have been hand-fed a diet of mice and chicken, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Kunz said they will be taught how to hunt for their own food -- a typical diet for a blue-winged kookaburra includes insects, small reptiles and even small birds and mammals -- when they are old enough, but they’ll never leave the Queensland sanctuary because life in the wild would be too dangerous for them.
See more photos of the albino kookaburras after the jump!
RELATED BIRD NEWS:
-- Lindsay Barnett