Black-capped Kingfisher Halcyon pileata Scientific name definitions

28–31·5 cm; 67–91 g. Medium-sized kingfisher that is difficult to mistake for any other species over its wide range. Both sexes have black head  , white collar and throat  , mainly purple-blue upperparts  , blue tail with black underside  , pale orange-rufous underparts  ; white patch on primary bases conspicuous in flight  ; bill red  (with sharp-edged, lacerately toothed tomia) (1 Gosner, K.L. (1993). Scopate tomia: an adaptation for handling hard-shelled prey? Wilson Bull.. 105(2): 316–324. Close ); iris dark brown; legs and feet dark red  . Juvenile has blue feathering duller, small rufous-buff loral spot (2 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), buffy collar, dusky scaling on breast  (sometimes extensive) (2 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), brownish-orange bill.

Korea, E, C & S China (from Liaoning to E Gansu and S to Hainan) and N Indochina; sporadic breeding reported in India. Winters S to India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indochina, Malay Peninsula, Andaman and Nicobar Is, Greater Sundas, Sulawesi and S Philippines.

In temperate regions inhabits deciduous forest near water  , such as wooded river­banks, and pools in forest streams. In the tropics and subtropics found both on the coast, in mangroves and on wooded seashores, and inland, in creeks, lagoons, estuaries, rice fields, open cultivated land, Nipa palm groves, willow jungle, forest clearings, and streams in bamboo-forest; also in gardens. Mostly in lowlands, up to 1525 m, with a vagrant recorded at 3300 m in Bhutan (3 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan: Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ); most common below 600 m in China.

Migratory in N of range. Breeders present in China and Korea May–Oct; non-breeding visitors Sept–Apr in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indochina, and S to Greater Sundas (rare in Java, Oct–Feb) (4 Indrawan, M., Collins, P., Goulding, D. and Rudyanto (1997). Records of Black-capped Kingfisher in Java. Kukila. 9: 173–174. Close ) and Sulawesi (mainly in N). Resident or partial migrant in intervening regions, e.g. India, Bangladesh, and across to Hainan and Hong Kong; even where resident may make local post-breeding movements to the coast. Autumn passage in SW Thailand and in Peninsular Malaysia (at Fraser’s Hill, in Pahang) from late Sept to late Nov, and spring passage Mar–Apr; many of these movements are at night and along well-established route, with individuals repeatedly recaptured over a number of years at same site. Shows strong fidelity to wintering territories; at Selangor, in S Malay Peninsula, some birds recaptured repeatedly at same place for up to six years in succession. Vagrants reported from periphery of its normal range, e.g. in Pakistan (Jan 1995) (5 Kylänpää, J. (1998). Black-capped Kingfisher Halcyon pileata: a new species for Pakistan. Forktail. 13: 126. Close ), Nepal, Bhutan (Apr 2001) (3 Spierenburg, P. (2005). Birds in Bhutan: Status and Distribution. Oriental Bird Club, Bedford, UK. Close ), Vladivostok (Russia), and Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Ryukyu Is).

In inland habitats, insects  such as dragonflies and dragonfly nymphs (Odonata), water boatmen (Notonectidae), locusts and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), crickets (Grylloidea), leaf insects (Phasmatidae), beetles (Coleoptera), bees and wasps (Hymenoptera) are major food, but also takes a few frogs and reptiles; on the coast, mainly fish and crabs. Regularly uses a number of conspicuous perches, at height of 3–10 m, to survey surroundings, frequently changing position or perch; flies out to catch an insect in foliage or on the ground, or to take prey from water. Moves on to sandflats and mudflats at low tide to catch crabs.

Ringing cackle, “kikikikikikiki”, similar to but higher-pitched than that of H. smyrnensis (2 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Lays from Apr in India; in Apr–May in Myanmar, in Jun in Korea, and in May–Jun in Hong-Kong. Nest at end of tunnel dug by both sexes in earth mound, cutting or streambank, occasionally in termitarium or old plaster-and-gravel wall; tunnel 50–100 cm long, 9–11 cm in diameter, ends in chamber 35 cm in diameter and 9–15 cm high. Apparently single-brooded (2 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Clutch 4–5 eggs; no information on incubation and nestling periods. Recorded longevity eight years.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Has a wide distribution and uses broad range of habitats. Not well known, and no figures on population sizes; locally frequent or common in India; not uncommon in China, where probably common locally; in SE Asia, uncommon to fairly common breeder in Myanmar and N Laos, and fairly common to common non-breeding visitor throughout that region. Relative abundance in some of its wintering areas presumably reflects large breeding population, probably in inland China. Numbers wintering in Sri Lanka have perhaps increased recently, albeit from a very low level (6 Jayewardene, R. (1997). Recent sightings of the Black-capped Kingfisher in Sri Lanka. Bull. Oriental Bird Club. 26: 50–52. Close ). In Peninsular Malaysia (Selangor), numbers wintering have declined since mid 1980s, and now found mainly on coast; oldest retrapped birds at Selangor were eight years old, and annual mortality calculated at c. 50% a year.