Blue-capped kingfisher
Blue-capped kingfisher
Main page
1482148

Blue-capped kingfisher

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Blue-capped kingfisher

The blue-capped kingfisher (Actenoides hombroni), also known as Hombron's kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae endemic to the Philippines and found only on Mindanao. It is one of the most colorful kingfishers in the country having a dark blue (green for females) cap and wings with rufous spots, a striped rufous belly, white chin and red bill . Its natural habitats are on the upper ranges of tropical moist lowland forest and tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss and its population is declining.

EBird describes the bird as "A spectacular medium-sized kingfisher of foothill and montane forest on Mindanao with a thick red bill, a white throat, a blue rump, and faintly scaled rufous on the underparts and cheek, extending around the back of the neck. The male has a blue crown, blue tail, and blue wings with buff spots. The blue is replaced by green in the female. The male also has an additional blue moustache stripe. Unmistakable. More often seen than heard. Song, given at dawn, consists of a single downslurred whistle with a slightly metallic quality, "wee-ooo," repeated every few seconds."

These kingfishers exhibit sexual dimorphism in which the males have the eponymous dark blue-cap and dark blue wings. The females on the other hand have aqua-green cap and wings.

This species is a sister species to the Spotted wood kingfisher of Luzon and West Visayas and the Rufous-collared kingfisher of Southeast Asia.

This species is monotypic and now has no subspecies. The birds from East Mindanao were once described as the subspecies burtoni are poorly differentiated.

Feeds on large insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, larvae, snails and also small vertebrates such as frogs and small snakes. It has also been recorded occasionally feeding on fish. This species perches in the lower storeys and flies to the ground to catch its prey. This species is most vocal at dawn.

Breeding season is believed to be January to July. This species has been seen nesting on large termite mounds but no papers and studies have been published on this species.

Its natural habitats are on the upper ranges of tropical moist lowland forest and tropical moist montane forests having a wide altitude range of 100 -2,400 meters above sea level but with majority of records are above 1,000 masl. They are often found close to streams.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.