White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis Scientific name definitions

26·5–29·5 cm; male 85–88 g (smyrnensis), 76–87 g (fusca), female 110 g (smyrnensis), both sexes 66·5–81 g (perpulchra) (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Medium-sized kingfisher with distinctive dark chestnut, blue and white plumage. Male of nominate race has dark chestnut head , flanks and belly, white throat and breast, blue back , wings and tail; lesser wing-coverts chestnut, median coverts dark blue; white patch at base of black primaries obvious in flight; bill red; iris dark brown, orbital skin red; legs and feet dusky red. Female slightly paler head and belly. Juvenile duller, breast with fine dark scallops. Race fusca smaller, slightly darker, less green tinge in blues, thus bluer above and deeper brown below than nominate; perpulchra is smaller again, and has paler underparts; <em>saturatior</em> has brown parts of plumage darker , more white in wing, and is larger than previous two races.

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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.

Uses wide variety of habitats: dams, ponds, canals, creeks, swamps, mudflats, beaches with coconut palms and trees, mangrove edges, Nipa palm swamps, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations, farmland, rice fields, large gardens, roadside trees, light industrial sites, bamboo-forest, dry deciduous forest. Usually avoids dense forest except for clearings, but found in depths of teak forest in Myanmar. Less common above 2300 m, but has occurred at up to 5000 m in Nepal. Territories include more open space than those of nearby Todiramphus chloris, and both are excluded from tree cover in Malay Peninsula by the larger H. pileata.

Many populations, from Middle East across to S China (Hong Kong), exhibit partial short-distance migration, with seasonal changes in abundance, probably involving mostly juveniles. In Malay Peninsula resident in favoured habitat, with no retraps or recoveries more than 4 km from place of ringing; many ringed birds are recaptured frequently, but all but one < 1 year later, possibly suggesting nomadism and there is a record of one bird on an oil platform 200 km offshore (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Some evidence of altitudinal migrations in N Indian Subcontinent, e.g. in Bhutan (2 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan: Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ), and same race (prepulchra) recently recorded in Tibet (3 Liu, W. and Liang, D. (2014). Falco severus and Halcyon smyrnensis discovered in Medog County, Tibet. Chinese J. Zool.. 49(3): 463. Close ). Vagrants recorded in Greece, Bulgaria (4 Spasov, S. (2006). The first record of White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis for Bulgaria. Sandgrouse. 28(1): 76–77. Close ), Cyprus, various Middle East countries including Syria, Qatar (5 Nation, B., H. Nation, and A. Hooper (1997) Birds new to Qatar. Sandgrouse 19: 56–62. Close ), Oman (6 Harrison, I. (2016). From the rarities committees. Sandgrouse 38(1):124–129. Close ) and N Iran (7 Khaleghizadeh, A. and Sehhati, M.E. (2004). Range extensions and new information for some Iranian birds. Sandgrouse. 26(1): 60–62. Close ), also former USSR, Lakshadweep Is (8 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), Taiwan (9 Tso-hsin, C. (1987). A Synopsis of the Avifauna of China. Science Press and Paul Parey, Beijing, China; Hamburg and Berlin, Germany. [In English with Chinese index]. Close ) and Yaeyama Is (S Japan) (10 Brazil, M. (2009). Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), and individuals may move more than realized. In India and Pakistan often recorded in monsoon season at night at lights, in areas where normally absent.

Wide variety of prey recorded. Insects  include mole-crickets (Gryllotalpa), crickets and grasshoppers (Locustidae, Tettigidae, Gryllidae), earwigs (Labiduridae, Chelisochidae), cockroaches (Blattodea), bugs (Belostomatidae, Pyrrhocoridae) beetles (Dytiscidae, Dynastidae, Rutilidae, Meloidae, Cicindelidae), mantises (Mantodea), termites (Isoptera), winged ants (Formicidae), moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera); also takes small scorpions (Scorpiones), centipedes (Chilopoda, including dangerous Scolopendra), snails (Achatina), crabs and crustaceans (Palaemonidae, Ocypodidae, Potamonidae, Paratelphusa), earthworms (Megascolecidae), fish (Cyprinidae, Bagridae, Anabantidae), frogs and toads (Rana, Bufo), lizards (Gecko, Draco, Calotes, Mabuya), chameleons, snakes (Coluber, Natrix, Ptyas to 65 cm long), birds, voles, mice, and squirrels (Funambulus). In Bengal, fish (31%) composed most of the diet, followed by frogs and toads (19%), insects (16%), reptiles (14%) and crustaceans (11%), but fish component varied from 43% in wet season to 19% in dry season. In a different study in India, analysis revealed that preys was mainly arthropods (83·4%) with many fewer vertebrates; seven orders of insects were identified, with Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera predominant (11 Asokan, S., Ali, A.M.S. and Manikannan, R. (2009). Diet of three insectivorous birds in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India – a preliminary study. J. Threatened Taxa. 1(6): 327–330. Close ). Predation on fish fry in India most concentrated early in morning, 05:45–06:45 hours, and 79% of dives were successful. Birds adults of small passerines (Aegithina tiphia (12 Theba, I.N. (2010). On the diet of the White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis. Indian Birds. 5(6): 181. Close ), Lonchura, Passer, Zosterops), newly fledged young (Riparia paludicola) (13 Roberts, T. J. (1991). The Birds of Pakistan. Volume 1. Non-Passeriformes. Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan. Close ) and nestlings (Kittacincla malabarica, Passer montanus, Vanellus indicus, Lonchura), and in Israel captures exhausted migrant Willow Warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus); also grabs birds from mist-nets. Typical sit-and-wait predator, spends long periods on perch 8–10 m above ground, with just head bobbing or tail wagging, before diving head first at 45° angle into deep water, or landing feet first in puddle or on ground; can hover for a moment over water before snatching prey. While still on ground or on returning to perch, will batter prey before swallowing it; can take up to 30 minutes before food swallowed. Success sometimes low, just three captures in 22 strikes at one site in Malaysia (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Termite alates caught on wing, and Scarabaeus beetles taken in flight > 1 hour after dusk; in Kashmir, feeding activity reported as largely crepuscular. Observed turning over earth in an arable field, seeking insects. Closely follows grazing cattle to catch insects disturbed by them. Study of diurnal activities in S India revealed that birds spent a mean 54% of time scanning for prey or danger, 23% feeding, 13% flying, 6% preening and 4% resting (14 Ali, A.M.S., Asokan, S. and Manikannan, R. (2010). Habitat-related density and activity patterns of the White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis in Cauvery Delta, southern India. Podoces. 5(1): 54–62. Close ).

Song a loud trill or whistle reeling down scale over c. 2 seconds, followed by short downward-inflected trills , repeated regularly from high perch, “klilililililiil hahahahaha, tirrrr-o, tirrrr-o, tirrrr-o, tirr-o tirr-o”; loud cackle, “chake ake ake-ake ake-ake”, often as contact-alarm as the bird flies; short “chik” while searching for prey, also trilling “ji-kurrr”, piercing “tsik”, and prolonged “kit-kit-kit-kit” by female inviting copulation.

Lays in Jun in Egypt, in Apr–May in Israel and Iraq, Mar–Apr and Jul in Pakistan (13 Roberts, T. J. (1991). The Birds of Pakistan. Volume 1. Non-Passeriformes. Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan. Close ), mainly in Apr–Jul (Jan–Aug) in India, in May in Bhutan (2 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan: Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ), in Apr in Myanmar, mainly in Mar–Apr (Dec–Jun) in Sri Lanka, in Dec to early Aug in Malaysia (once Oct) (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), and in Mar–Apr in Thailand and Sumatra; drop in water level may be external stimulus for laying; sometimes double-brooded. Monogamous, but presence of three birds in some areas suggests possibility of communal breeding; two nests within 200 m in Malaysia (15 Burton, N.H.K. (1998). Notes on the diet of nestling White-throated Kingfishers Halcyon smyrnensis in Malaysia. Forktail. 14: 79-80. Close ). Calling from prominent perch, e.g. top of tree, increases at start of breeding season, bird sitting upright and periodically spreading wings to show white wing patches; in aerial display flies 50–60 m up with much calling, then spirals down. Nest (1–5 m above ground) (16 Al-Safadi, M. M. (2006). Observations on the breeding birds of the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Sandgrouse 28(1):22–33. Close ) usually in earthen bank of ditch, stream, river, pond or road cutting, sometimes in termitarium, rock crevice, tree or mud hole, rarely in haystack; in Israel sometimes in nest-hole of bee-eater (Merops), and in Pakistan uses old myna (Acridotheres) holes; nest-chamber, up to 15–23 cm wide and 13 cm high, at end of inclined tunnel 30–150 cm long and 6–8 cm in diameter. Clutch 4–7 white eggs, usually 5–6, mean size 29·7 mm × 26 mm (Malaysia, prepulchra) (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); both parents incubate, period 18–20 days, hatching over 3–4 days (16 Al-Safadi, M. M. (2006). Observations on the breeding birds of the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Sandgrouse 28(1):22–33. Close ); both also feed chicks (with most prey taken close to nest) (15 Burton, N.H.K. (1998). Notes on the diet of nestling White-throated Kingfishers Halcyon smyrnensis in Malaysia. Forktail. 14: 79-80. Close ), fledging period 26–27 days; adults feed young for one month after fledging. Lifespan unknown, but one individual re-trapped 5·5 years after first being captured (1 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally common throughout its range, and locally abundant, e.g. in India, where densities of between 70 and 145 individuals/km² recorded in S India (partially reflecting some inter-year variation across a three-year study) (14 Ali, A.M.S., Asokan, S. and Manikannan, R. (2010). Habitat-related density and activity patterns of the White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis in Cauvery Delta, southern India. Podoces. 5(1): 54–62. Close ). Nests 100 m apart at highest densities. Total numbers in Malaysia thought likely to have increased in latter decades of 20th century. Highly adaptable; ability to use farmland and low-lying oil palm plantations has allowed it to expand its range (e.g. in Sumatra, which it colonized in 1950s), possibly at the expense of <em>Todiramphus chloris</em> ; conversely, seems to have been replaced by that species on Singapore. Locally has also benefited from agricultural intensification in Turkey, but overall has declined numerically and its range contracted in that country, thus, for example, has not occurred for many decades around present-day Izmir (former Smyrna, from where the species was described and the species takes its scientific name) (17 Kirwan, G. M., K. A. Boyla, P. Castell, B. Demirci, M. Özen, H. Welch, and T. Marlow (2008). The Birds of Turkey: The Distribution, Taxonomy and Breeding of Turkish Birds. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Also perhaps formerly bred in Lebanon, where now only winter visitor or passage migrant (18 Ramadan-Jaradi, G., and M. Ramadan-Jaradi (1999). An updated checklist of the birds of Lebanon. Sandgrouse 21(2):132–170. Close ). First nested in Egypt in 1986 and on Java in 1972; even more recently has colonized Kuwait (2001) and seems about to do so in C Saudi Arabia (19 Jennings, M. C. (2004). Breeding birds in central Arabia, 1978–2003. Sandgrouse 26(1):35–47. Close ). Has bred successfully in captivity.