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Pied Kingfisher

Ceryle rudis

Description:

This kingfisher is about 17 cm long and is white with a black mask, a white supercilium and black breast bands. The crest is neat and the upperparts are barred in black. Several subspecies are recognized within the broad distribution. The nominate race is found in sub-Saharan Africa, extending into West Asia. A former subspecies syriaca is considered as merely a larger northern bird of the nominate species (following Bergmann's rule). Subspecies leucomelanura is found from Afghanistan east into India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Laos. The subspecies travancoreensis of the Western Ghats is darker with the white reduced. Subspecies C. r. insignis is found in Hainan and southeastern China and has a much larger bill. Males have a narrow second breast-band while females have a single broken breast band.

Habitat:

It is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia from Turkey to India to China. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate, other than short-distance seasonal movements In India it is distributed mainly on the plains and is replaced in the higher hills of the Himalayas by Megaceryle lugubris. The Pied Kingfisher is estimated to be the world's third most common kingfisher, and is a noisy bird, unmissable within its range

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4 Comments

ThePinappleMan
ThePinappleMan 12 years ago

really interesting bird

Elsa
Elsa 12 years ago

Beautiful composition :)

Thanks

Gordon Dietzman
Gordon Dietzman 12 years ago

I remember seeing this bird in southern Vietnam, when I was working there on a conservation project. Always enjoyed seeing it and your photo brings back many favorite memories. Thanks for posting.

Katharagama UP, Sri Lanka

Spotted on Mar 7, 2011
Submitted on Apr 14, 2011

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