Monday 29 August 2016

Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)

OTHER NAMES: White-collared Kingfisher, Mangrove Kingfisher
Latin Etymology: Todiramphus ("Small bird, bill") chloris ("green")

Adult Collared Kingfisher (subspecies T. c. humii) at Malacca, Malaysia - July 2016

Featured Subspecies: Todiramphus chloris humii 
Weight: 51-90g  /  Length: 24cm  /  Wingspan: ?
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

I must admit that when I first saw this bird on a dead tree looking at me face on, it looked slightly like a bedraggled fledgling house crow and it wasn't until I continued along the route I was walking I realised that in fact it was a new species of Kingfisher for me.  As you can probably guess from my mistake, this is another kingfisher that is substantially larger than the Eurasian Kingfisher.  Unlike the white-throated however, this is a bird specialized to the coast and mangroves in particular.  However, this bird (and indeed, it's partner I saw together with it a few minutes later) had a slightly different habitat - under a massive road-bridge across the mouth at the river at Malacca at the side of what was essentially brownfield site.  However, even so it posed for me very nicely and made a great final new bird of the trip.

Related Species:
Order: Coraciiformes  
Family: Alcedinidae  
Genus: Todiramphus
SUBSPECIES: T. c. abyssinicus, T. c. kalbaensis, T. c. humii, T. c. vidali, T. c. armstrongi, T. c. davisoni, T. c. occipitalis, T. c. chloropterus, T. c. azelus, T. c. palmeri, T. c. laubmannianus, T. c. collaris, T. c. chloris, T. c. teraokai

 - Sighting Locations -
MALAYSIA - Malay - Pekaka Bakau ("Mangrove Kingfisher") 
A locally common resident.  
 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: A pair near the river mouth in Malacca
SINGAPORE - A locally common resident
 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: Numerous at Sungei Buloh, a pair at Lower Pierce Reservoir

Further Notes: BirdForum OpusIUCN Red ListRSPB, WikipediaXeno-canto

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