A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Todiramphus sp.
The Forest Kingfisher was first described by the naturalists Sir William Jardine and Prideaux John Selby in 1830. It was known for many years by its old scientific name of Halcyon macleayi before being transferred to the genus Todiramphus. Two subspecies are recognised: H. m. macleayi, the nominate subspecies, is found across the Top End eastwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria. H. m. incinctus, described by John Gould, has a greener tinge to its back and is slightly larger. It is found down the east coast of Australia.
Still looking to confirm if this is macleayi or incinctus subspecies.
Spotted on Aug 3, 2013
Submitted on Sep 2, 2013
11 Comments
.... especially as one of the criteria to differentiate the two races is the size of a white spot on the wings which can only be seen in flight :-(
Yep, I'll take it out and wait and see what other people think.
Maybe it's best not to call the race then? I definitely would not feel confident to do it on the base of the pic only but somebody else may :-) It's all interesting though!
OK: my guide shows macleayi from the top end down the East Coast, the separation at the Gulf of Carpentaria and incinctus in the NT only... maybe more research is needed to see which one is right...
Atlas of living Australia has both species shown on the east coast. So that doesn't really help!
http://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/s...
Ok let me check again...
Hang on - so the info I have above is wrong? It says incinctus is down the east coast?
Hmm - it might just be the sunlight that makes it look a bit greener. I was definitely on the east coast so maybe I should change it back to macleayii...
Hi Rachel! I agree with the species, especially with the pale base on the bill. My Simpson and Day field guide gives the race macleayii for the location and not incinctus, but indicates incinctus has a greener back, which I think I can see on your pics. The geographical separation for the two races is shown at the NT-Queensland border.
Thanks Neil, I was 99% sure but there are such slight differences between some of them I was doing my head in!
I think you're right with this ID, Rachael. Nicely spotted, and good info too. I've yet to see one of these myself.