The stork-billed kingfisher (''Pelargopsis capensis''), is a tree kingfisher which is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. This

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

is resident throughout its range. It is a very large kingfisher, measuring in length. The adult has a green back, blue wings and tail, and olive-brown head. Its underparts and neck are buff. The very large bill and legs are bright red. The flight of the stork-billed kingfisher is laboured and flapping, but direct. Sexes are similar. There are 13 races or

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

, differing mostly in plumage detail, but ''P. c. gigantea'' of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines has a white head, neck and underparts. The call of this noisy kingfisher is a low and far reaching ''peer-por-por'' repeated about every 5 seconds, as well cackling ''ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke''. The stork-billed kingfisher lives in a variety of well-wooded habitats near lakes, rivers, or coasts. It perches quietly whilst seeking food, and is often inconspicuous despite its size. It is territorial and will chase away

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

s and other large predators. This species hunts fish, frogs, crabs, rodents and young birds. Adults dig their nests in river banks, decaying trees, or tree termite nests. A clutch of two to five round white eggs is typical.

Taxonomy

The first formal description of the stork-billed kingfisher was by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in 1766 in the

12th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial ...

''. He coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

''Alcedo capensis''. Linnaeus based his description on

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published wo ...

's "Le martin-pescheur du Cap de Bonne Espérance". Brisson believed his specimen had come from the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

region of South Africa. The species does not occur in Africa and it was suggested that the specimen had been obtained on the Indonesian island of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. The specimen is now known to have come from near

Chandannagar Chandannagar french: Chandernagor ), also known by its former name Chandernagore and French name Chandernagor, is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is ...

in West Bengal, India. Linnaeus's specific epithet ''capensis'' denotes the Cape of Good Hope. The current genus ''Pelargopsis'' was introduced by the German zoologist Constantin Gloger in 1841. Thirteen subspecies are recognised: * ''P. c. capensis'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – Nepal through India to Sri Lanka * ''P. c. osmastoni'' ( Baker, ECS, 1934) –

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between t ...

* ''P. c. intermedia''

Hume Hume most commonly refers to: * David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher Hume may also refer to: People * Hume (surname) * Hume (given name) * James Hume Nisbet (1849–1923), Scottish-born novelist and artist In fiction * Hume, ...

, 1874 –

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian ...

* ''P. c. burmanica'' Sharpe, 1870 – Myanmar to Indochina and south to north

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

* ''P. c. malaccensis'' Sharpe, 1870 – central and south Malay Peninsula,

Riau Archipelago The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of ...

and Lingga Islands * ''P. c. cyanopteryx'' ( Oberholser, 1909) –

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

and Belitung Island * ''P. c. simalurensis''

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

, 1903 –

Simeulue Island Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1754 square kilometres (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...

(off the west coast of the island of

in Indonesia) * ''P. c. sodalis'' Richmond, 1903 – Banyak,

Nias Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre ...

, Batu and

Mentawai Islands Mentawai may refer to: * Mentawai Islands * Mentawai Strait * Mentawai people * Mentawai language The Mentawai language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Dialects Ac ...

(off the west coast of Sumatra) * ''P. c. innominata'' ( van Oort, 1910) –

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

* ''P. c. javana'' ( Boddaert, 1783) –

* ''P. c. floresiana'' Sharpe, 1870 –

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and t ...

(

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

) * ''P. c. gouldi'' Sharpe, 1870 – north Philippines * ''P. c. gigantea''

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...

, 1874 – central and south Philippines The insular forms ''nesoeca'' on the Nias and Batu Islands as well as ''isoptera'' on Mentawai Island are here subsumed within ''sodalis''. Prior to the change of type locality to Chandannagar, the birds in India were placed in the subspecies ''gurial'' but this race is now synonymized with the nominate race ''capensis''.

Gallery

File:Stork-billed Kingfisher (cropped).jpg, In Kumarakom,

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

. Image:Stork-billed Kingfisher (Halcyon capensis) eyeing a prey in Kolkata W IMG 3555.jpg, Eyeing prey in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Image:Stork-billed Kingfisher I IMG 7659.jpg, In

. Image:Stork-billed Kingfisher I IMG 7407.jpg, In

. Image:STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER I3 IMG 5422.jpg, In

. File:Halcyon capensis11 (cropped).JPG, Stork-billed Kingfisher Pekaka emas (Pelargopsis capensis) di Taman Nasional Danau Sentarum.jpg, Lake Sentarum National Park, Indonesia Image:Kingfisher in Cochin.jpg, A Stork-billed Kingfisher with blue plumage in central Kerala.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the stork-billed kingfisher
{{Taxonbar, from=Q862819 stork-billed kingfisher Birds of Bangladesh Birds of India Birds of Sri Lanka Birds of Southeast Asia stork-billed kingfisher stork-billed kingfisher