Blue-breasted Kingfisher - BirdForum Opus

Halcyon malimbica

Photo by Steve G
Marakissa, Western Division, The Gambia, West Africa, March 2005

Identification

25 cm

• Bright blue head, back, wing panel and tail
• White underparts
• Blue breast band
• Black shoulders
• Red upper mandible and black lower mandible
• Bright red legs
  

Sexes similar
Juveniles: duller than adults

Photo by scottishdude
The Gambia, March 2010

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa: From Mauritania to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Halcyon malimbica has four subspecies:

• H. m. malimbica:

• Riverine woodlands of Cameroon to Uganda and Zambia

• H. m. torquata:

• Southern Senegambia and Guinea-Bissau to extreme western Mali

• H. m. forbesi:

• Sierra Leone to eastern Nigeria and extreme western Cameroon; winters to Bioko Island

• H. m.dryas:

• Príncipe Island and (formerly) São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea)

Habitat

Freshwater creeks & Mangroves, well-wooded wetland with good canopy cover; gardens.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes frogs and fish, large insects, arthropods, and the Oil Palm fruits.

Breeding

It nests in a hole in a tree termite nest. The clutch consists of 2 round white eggs.

Vocalisation

Call: a whistled pu-pu-pu-pu-ku-ku-ku-ku.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-breasted Kingfisher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-breasted_Kingfisher

External Links

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