What a surprise the staff got when they arrived to work in the morning and saw a newly hatched blue-winged kookaburra chick sitting in the incubator.
Not everything goes to plan at the Nature Park and this was the case with our resident pair of Blue-winged Kookaburras. After laying their eggs in a hollow log on the ground, we normally allow the parent to incubate and raise their offspring but unfortunately with the heavy rains one of the eggs was damaged and it was decided to remove the last remaining egg.
Luckily the Nature Park is equipped to care for fertile eggs and artificially incubate the egg. After looking at the egg through a strong light and confirming it was fertile the egg was incubated for the necessary 23-25 days until a fully formed chick developed inside and hatched out during the early hours of the morning.
The chick has now moved to a humid crib where the staff hand feed the chick every 3 hours with special food ensuring it receives the necessary dietary needs and is gaining weight. Once it has all its feathers and can fly we will look at introducing it to its original parents and allow them to bond as a family.
