Wildlife carers in far north Queensland say they have uncovered what is believed to be a world first - a pair of albino blue-winged kookaburras.
The baby kookaburras, believed to be sisters, were handed into a wildlife park at Ravenshoe, south-west of Cairns.
They had been found on the ground after a storm.
While there are some albino laughing kookaburras at zoos, there has never been a blue-winged albino.
The stark white birds rarely live long in the wild because they have no camouflage, and will probably stay at the park.
Eagles New Wildlife Hospital carer Leslie Brown says the pair require special care.
"Because they can't see properly, because of the lack of pigment, they have problems finding food," she said.
"Because they are so young they still haven't been taught by their parents how to hunt.
"They're being fed mice and chicken and other delicate morsels."
Ms Brown says it is a "once-in-a-lifetime'' discovery.
"We've been in contact with a couple of other zoos that have kept white kookaburras in the past," she said.
"At the moment, we can only find that there's three other white laughing kookaburras held in captivity in Australia.
"But these are the only [albino] blue-winged kookaburras that have ever been recorded in Australia."
