White-throated kingfisher

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The white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) also known as the white-breasted kingfisher is a tree kingfisher, widely distributed in Asia from the Sinai east through the Indian subcontinent to China and Indonesia. This kingfisher is a resident over much of its range, although some populations may make short distance movements. It can often be found well away from water where it feeds on a wide range of prey that includes small reptiles, amphibians, crabs, small rodents and even birds. During the breeding season they call loudly in the mornings from prominent perches including the tops of buildings in urban areas or on wires.

Taxonomy

The white-throated kingfisher is one of the many birds that were first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He coined the binomial name Alcedo smyrnensis.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Linnaeus cited Eleazar Albin's Natural History of Birds published in 1738 that included a description and a plate of the "Smirna Kingfisher".<ref name=albin>Template:Cite book</ref> Albin's specimen was preserved in alcohol and had been collected by the botanist William Sherard who served as the British Consul at Smyrna between 1703 and 1716.<ref name=albin/><ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref> The present genus Halcyon was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William Swainson in 1821.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Halcyon is a name for a bird in Greek mythology generally associated with the kingfisher. The specific epithet smyrnensis is an adjective for the city of Smyrna (now İzmir in Turkey).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Five subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc>Template:Cite web</ref>

  • H. s. smyrnensis (Linnaeus, 1758) – south Turkey to north east Egypt, Iraq to northwest India
  • H. s. fusca (Boddaert, 1783) – west India and Sri Lanka
  • H. s. perpulchra Madarász, 1904 – Bhutan to east India, Indochina, the Malay Peninsula and west Java
  • H. s. saturatior Hume, 1874 – Andaman Islands
  • H. s. fokiensis Laubmann & Götz, 1926 – south and east China, Taiwan and Hainan

The brown-breasted kingfisher (H. gularis) of the Philippines is usually now considered as a separate species.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Support for this treatment was provided by a molecular study published in 2017 that found that H. s. gularis was more closely related to the Javan kingfisher (H. cyanoventris) than it was to the white-throated kingfisher.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They were split as distinct species by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International in 2014, and the International Ornithological Congress followed suit in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The races H. s. perpulchra and H. s. fokiensis are sometimes included in H. s. fusca.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Local names include Baluchistan: aspi chidok; Sindhi: dalel; Hindi: kilkila, kourilla; Himachal Pradesh: neela machhrala; Punjabi: wadda machhera; Bengali: sandabuk machhranga; Assamese: māsorokā, মাছৰোকা; Cachar: dao natu gophu; Gujarati: kalkaliyo, safedchati kalkaliyo; Marathi: khundya; Tamil: vichuli; Telugu: lakmuka, buchegadu; Malayalam: ponman; Kannada: Minchulli(ಮಿಂಚುಳ್ಳಿ),rajamatsi; Sinhalese: pilihuduwa.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Description

File:Halcyon smyrnensis - Singapore Botanic Gardens.jpg
At Singapore Botanic Gardens
File:White-throated Kingfisher AMSM5820.jpg
At Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India

This is a large kingfisher, Template:Cvt in length. The adult has a bright blue back, wings and tail. Its head, shoulders, flanks and lower belly are chestnut, and the throat and breast are white. The large bill and legs are bright red. The flight of the white-throated kingfisher is rapid and direct, the short rounded wings whirring. In flight, large white patches are visible on the blue and black wings. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are a duller version of the adult.<ref name=fry>Template:Cite book</ref>

This species forms a superspecies with Halcyon cyanoventris and most major works recognize four geographic races. They vary clinally in size, the shades of blue on the mantle which is more greenish in smyrnensis and fusca and more blue or purplish in saturatior. H. s. gularis of the Philippines has only the neck and throat white. It is sometimes treated as a distinct species, H. gularis. Race fusca is found in Peninsular India and Sri Lanka and is slightly smaller, bluer and with a darker brown underside than the nominate race found in northwestern India. Race saturatior is found in the Andaman Islands and is larger with darker brown underparts. Race perpulchra (not always recognized) is found in northeastern India and is smaller than fusca with paler underparts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Albinism has been noted on occasion.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Distribution and habitat

The white-throated kingfisher is a common species in a variety of habitats, mostly open country in the plains (but has been seen at 7500 ft in the Himalayas<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>) with trees, wires or other perches. The range of the species is expanding.

This kingfisher is widespread and populations are not threatened. Average density of 4.58 individuals per km2. has been noted in the Sundarbans mangroves.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

File:White-throated-Kingfisher.jpg
Couple of White-throated-Kingfisher

The white-throated kingfisher begins breeding at the onset of the Monsoons. Males perch on prominent high posts in their territory and call in the early morning. The tail may be flicked now and in its courtship display the wings are stiffly flicked open for a second or two exposing the white wing mirrors. They also raise their bill high and display the white throat and front. The female in invitation makes a rapid and prolonged kit-kit-kit... call. The nest is a tunnel (50 cm long, but a nest with a 3-foot tunnel has been noted<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>) in an earth bank. The nest building begins with both birds flying into a suitable mud wall until an indentation is made where they can find a perch hold. They subsequently perch and continue digging the nest with their bills. Nest tunnels in a haystack have also been recorded.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A single clutch of 4–7 round white eggs is typical. The eggs take 20–22 days to hatch while the chicks fledge in 19 days.<ref name=hbk/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Feeding and diet

It perches conspicuously on wires or other exposed perches within its territory, and is a frequent sight in south Asia. This species mainly hunts large crustaceans,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> insects, earthworms,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> rodents, lizards,<ref name="White-throated Kingfisher swallowing lizard">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="White-Throated Kingfisher eating a Lizard - Birds of Israel (video)">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="White-throated kingfisher feeding on a skink near Gurgaon, India">Template:Cite web</ref> snakes, fish and frogs.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Predation of small birds such as the Indian white-eye, chick of a red-wattled lapwing, sparrows and munias have been reported.<ref name=hbk/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=freak>Template:Cite journal</ref> The young are fed mostly on invertebrates.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In captivity, it has been noted that it rarely drinks water although bathing regularly.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Movements

Birds have sometimes been seen attracted to lights at night, especially during the monsoon season, suggesting that they are partly migratory.<ref name=hbk>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mortality

With a powerful bill and rapid flight, these kingfishers have few predators when healthy and rare cases of predation by a black kite<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and a jungle crow may be of sick or injured birds.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> An individual found dead with its beak embedded into the wood of a tree has been suggested as an accident during rapid pursuit of prey, possibly an Indian white-eye.<ref name=freak/> A few parasites have been noted.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In the 1800s these birds were hunted for their bright feathers that were used to adorn hats.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

References

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Further reading

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