Chordates • Earth.com

White-breasted kingfisher

(Halcyon smyrnensis)

Description

This is a large kingfisher,27–28 cm (10.6–11.0 in) 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.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.Albinism has been noted on occasion.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) 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.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.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Aves
Order:Coraciiformes
Family:Alcedinidae
Genus:Halcyon
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