Chocolate-backed kingfisher
| Chocolate-backed kingfisher | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Alcedinidae |
| Subfamily: | Halcyoninae |
| Genus: | Halcyon |
| Species: | H. badia |
| Binomial name | |
| Halcyon badia Verreaux & Verreaux, 1851 | |
The chocolate-backed kingfisher (Halcyon badia) is a species of kingfisher in the subfamily Halcyoninae which ooccurs in western Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
The chocolate-backed kingfisher has the typical stocky kingfisher shape with dark upperparts and pure white underparts. The head and hind neck are very dark brown, the mantle is brownish black, the back is black and the rump brilliant, iridescent blue, the uppertail coverts are black and the tail is pale blue. The winks are dark apart from a brilliant azure speculum formed in the outer webs of the secondary feathesrThe underparts from the throat to the vent are snowy white, apart from a small blackish flank patch and are clearly demarcated from the dark upperparts. In flight the brilliant blue rump an speculum are distinctive. The bill is red or reddish brown. Juveniles are similar to adults but the breats is scalloped and nuffy and the bill is blackish with an orange tip,[2]
=Voice
A harsh screeching alarm note is givem. The dong is a high piched, barely audible introductory "pee" followed by 12-17 long fluty pure tones notes which are evenly spaced and far carrying, lasting 5-7 seconds, and sometimes falling away towards the last few notes.[2]
Distribution
The chocolate-backed kingfisher occurs in western tropical Africa from Sierra Leone to Ghana in the west, the a gap and from southern Nigeria east to southern Central African Republic and western Uganda south to the Kwango River in northern Angola. It is also foun on Bioko.[3]
Habitat
The chocolate-backed kingfisher is not associated with water and is a bird of primary and secondary lowland rainforest.[3]
Habits
The chocolate backed kingfisher spends much of its time perched quietly quite high up in trees which overlook a clearing. It flies out from this perch to catch prey in the air or drops from the perch onto prey on the ground. It has been recorded attending columns of driver ants and feeding on either the driver ants themselves or the insects their columns flush. They feed on insects, mainly grasshoppers and beetles but also many other invertebrates as well as small lizards.[2]
They excavate their nests in the earth nests of the arboreal termites of the genus Nasutitermes, the termites fix their nests to a liana or vine or angled branch at about 4-5m above the forest floor. The kingfishers excavate teir nest horizontally from the side and can dig out most of the termite's structure, the termites react by sealing themselves off from the cavity created by the birds. They also sometimes use hanging ants nests.[2]
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Halcyon badia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 C. Hilary Fry; Kathie Fry; Alan Harris (1992). Kingfishers Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-71368028-8.
- 1 2 "Chocolate-backed Kingfisher (Halcyon badia)". HBW Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2016-11-25.