The mewing kingfisher or Mangaia kingfisher (''Todiramphus ruficollaris''), known locally as the tanga‘eo, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the Alcedinidae, or kingfisher family. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Mangaia Mangaia (traditionally known as A'ua'u Enua, which means ''terraced'') is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of , from Rarotonga. Originally heavily popul ...

in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Description

The mewing kingfisher is in length, with blue-green forehead and crown; light turquoise ear-coverts; orange-buff superciliary buff, nape, and upper mantle; deep turquoise back, rump, and uppertail-coverts; deep blue tail (underside blackish); entirely white underparts (except for orange-buff across upper chest); mostly black bill and iris; mostly black legs with light yellow soles. The orange-buff suffusion across the upper chest is more pronounced in females. Similar to many birds on islands with low species richness, the mewing kingfisher has evolved smaller flight muscles and longer legs, giving it an extraordinarily low forelimb-hindlimb index.

Behavior

The mewing kingfisher feeds upon worms, caterpillars, grubs, termites, grasshoppers, stick insecks, cockroaches, moths, spiders, and lizards, with lizards being especially valued during courtship feeding. Breeding season begins in early October with last fledglings in early February. Polygamous behavior has been documented in the mewing kingfisher, with polyandrous trios (two males, one female) being more common although polygynous behavior (one male, two females) was also observed. Its song is heard as a brief series of "tangar-eeoOO," from which its Maori name is derived, also represented as "ki-wow." Other calls of the Mangaia kingfisher include "kek-kek-kek-kek" during contact with a mate or as a territorial call, "scrark" when chasing off intruders, "chucka-chucka" when reestablishing contact with a mate, and "tui-tui" during copulation. Like its relatives the Marquesan kingfisher,

Sombre kingfisher The sombre kingfisher (''Todiramphus funebris'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to island of Halmahera, in North Maluku, Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropica ...

, and

Niau kingfisher The Niau kingfisher (''Todiramphus gertrudae'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to the island of Niau in French Polynesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, plantations and rural gardens ...

, the mewing kingfisher makes frequent use of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

agriculture for its habitat. It has also been observed nesting in ''

Barringtonia asiatica ''Barringtonia asiatica'', known variously as fish poison tree, putat and beach Barrintonia among other names, is a species of plants in the brazil nut family Lecythidaceae. It is native to coastal habitats from Tanzania and Madagascar in the ...

'', ''

Albizia ''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...

'', and '' Hernandia moerenhoutiana''.

Conservation

As the mewing kingfisher is endemic to a single island, it was previously viewed as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

. In 2008, the IUCN expressed concerns over human-related habitat loss and disturbance from introduced species such as the

common myna The common myna or Indian myna (''Acridotheres tristis''), sometimes spelled mynah, is a bird in the Family (biology), family Sturnidae, native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the common myna has ada ...

In the early 2000s, the

Taporoporo'anga Ipukarea Society The Te Ipukarea Society (TIS) is an environmental non-government organisation based in the Cook Islands of Polynesia in the south-western Pacific Ocean. The original name was Taporoporo'anga Ipukarea Society, but was shortened a number of years a ...

proposed a program to eradicate the common myna from Mangaia. However, further study determined that despite its restricted range, the population of the mewing kingfisher remains stable. Thacker et al suggested in 2020 that previous studies might have undercounted the mewing kingfisher and that the common myna does not pose a significant threat to the kingfisher's numbers. They further suggested that the IUCN should not list the species as vulnerable. As of 2021, the mewing kingfisher is listed as a species of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1266162 mewing kingfisher Birds of Mangaia mewing kingfisher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic birds of the Cook Islands