Hook-billed Kingfisher Melidora macrorrhina Scientific name definitions

27 cm; male 90–110 g, female 85–110 g. Large, dumpy-looking kingfisher, black eyestripe and black band from chin joining at rear to form broad collar, bordered white below . Male of nominate race has broad blue or turquoise fringes to black crown feathers; upperparts and wing-coverts brown with buff tips; underparts whitish; large bill with black upper mandible, horn-coloured lower mandible, distinct hooked tip; iris very dark brown; legs and feet greenish-grey. Female has yellowish-green fringes to forehead and crown, buffy underparts. Juvenile has darker cap, underparts rufous-buff to yellowish-buff, noticeable dusky margins to throat and breast feathers. Race <em>waigiuensis</em> slightly larger, by c. 5% in most measurements (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); <em>jobiensis</em> male deeper blue on crown than same-sex nominate race, while female has blackish crown.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Lowland primary and secondary rainforest, gallery forest, scrub-forest, also partly cleared areas, isolated groups of trees, and older rubber and teak plantations; generally below 700 m, locally up to 1280 m and even 1500 m in Fakfak Mts, Irian Jaya (2 Gibbs, D. (1994). Undescribed taxa and new records from the Fakfak Mountains, Irian Jaya. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 114(1):4–12. Close ).

Sedentary; a ringed bird recovered 5·5 years later at same site.

Large insects, including stick-insects (Phasmida), also frogs. Feeding behaviour little known; bill often caked in mud, suggesting that it may dig in soil for prey. Mainly nocturnal or crepuscular, but forages actively during day when feeding chicks.

Calls mainly at dusk and dawn, but throughout night when moonlit, also by day when breeding, single liquid whistle, sometimes 2–3, followed by 1–4 short higher-pitched notes, “teuw-tu-tu”, lasting c. 1 second; also two whistled notes, second shorter and higher; less frequently, irregular series of 3–5 plaintive notes, falling and rising, 2–5 seconds; repeated chatter in alarm and aggression, considered similar to those of paradise-kingfisher.

Lays in middle to late dry season, in Jul–Oct. Nest dug into active termite nest 3–6 m above ground on side of a tree, in shady location; in one case, tunnel sloped up from side of termitarium to near top, where nest-chamber 11–12 cm wide was located. Clutch 2–3 eggs; hatching possibly asynchronous; male incubates and broods by day; nestling reported to have egg tooth on both upper and lower mandibles, and bill even more hooked than on adult; incubation and fledging periods not documented.

Not globally threatened. Widely distributed and quite common. Occurs in Varirata National Park; fairly common in Kau Wildlife Area. Nocturnal habits means that it is infrequently seen, but up to 12 heard calling simultaneously in Baiyer River Sanctuary.