Alternative name: Black-headed Paradise Kingfisher
- Tanysiptera nigriceps
Identification
30-48 cm including elongated tail
- Underside yellowish buff to more orange, reaching as a half collar to the sides of the neck
- Head including crown black
- Black tertials, rest of wing blue
- central back, rump and central tail white
- Bill and legs coral red
Variation
Subspecies leucura has all white tail and darker underside than nigriceps
Similar species
Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher has Blue crown above a black "bandit's mask", blue tertials, and mostly white tail with outer tail feathers shorter.
Distribution
Bismarck Archipelago (Papua New Guinea)
Taxonomy
Two subspecies are recognized[1].
- T. n. leucura - Umboi I. (Bismarck Archipelago)
- T. n. nigriceps - Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain and Duke of York)
Black-capped Paradise Kingfisher has recently been split from Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher
Habitat
Mostly a lowland species but may occur higher. Characteristically a bird of forests, edges and second growth.
Behaviour
Has been observed to hunt from a perch
Vocalisation
Most frequent a staccato series of sounds.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v11.1). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.11.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Black-capped Paradise-Kingfisher (Tanysiptera nigriceps), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bubpak2.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-capped Paradise Kingfisher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-capped_Paradise_Kingfisher
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
