Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers by C. Hilary Fry

Author:C. Hilary Fry
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408134573
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

71 SHINING-BLUE KINGFISHER Plate 24

Alcedo quadribrachys

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Alcedo quadribrachys ‘Temm.’, Bonaparte, 1850, Consp. Genera Avium, 1, p. 158, Guinea.

Field identification Length 16 cm (6–6½ in). A dark blue-and-chestnut river kingfisher of the rainforest zone of west and equatorial Africa. At rest: upperparts dark ultramarine-blue with a lighter blue or brilliant cobalt band from mantle to rump; a small buffy-white loral spot and large neck blaze; white throat, and dark chestnut underparts. The bill is black. In flight: dark blue with paler back and rump; underwing-coverts rufous. Confusion species: the White-breasted and Malachite Kingfishers (64, 65) have the same combination of ultramarine-blue and rufous, but they are smaller, red-billed, with white breast (64) or banded crown (65). Half-collared Kingfisher (77), which overlaps with Shining-blue only in easternmost Angola and on Mwombezhi River in Solwezi, Zambia, is distinguished by being paler, with a white (not rufous) loral spot and a larger blue mark at the side of the breast.

Voice In flight a high-pitched ‘cheep’ or ‘tschut’, repeated rapidly up to six times. Frightened nestlings make a fizzling noise.

Geographical variation Two subspecies, differing in hue.

A. q. quadribrachys Senegambia to about west-central Nigeria. Mantle to uppertail-coverts bright purple-blue.

A. q. guentheri Southwest Nigeria to Lake Victoria, south to Angola and northwest Zambia. Mantle and back brilliant cobalt-blue, rump pale azure-blue.

Habitat and range Living on open waters in the forest zone, this kingfisher keeps mainly in the shade of the vegetation fringing rivers, lakes and ponds. It occurs at the coast, in lagoons, estuaries and mangrove, and inland it inhabits reedbeds and emergent woody growth, papyrus swamps, reservoirs, and slow-running streams and rivers in primary forest and in open savanna country and farmland. Shining-blue Kingfishers occur in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Mali (Niger, Bafing, Sankarani and Baoule Rivers); they range from Ivory Coast through south Nigeria and Cameroon just to Sudan (Aloma Plateau, Yambio), Kenya (once, Kakamega Forest), Rwanda (Akagera River near Kagitumba, Rubyiro River), Burundi (once, upper Kayangozi River), northwest Zambia, and Angola (Cabinda, Cuango River, Foz de Chiluango, Luando, Carmona). They are found at up to 850 m in altitude in Cameroon and 1800 m in Zaïre, and are uncommon in savanna but common in forested country. Some 50 pairs were counted on 48 km of Nsukawkaw River in Ghana (Grimes 1987); they are numerous on forested streams in Gabon and at 700 m in Bwamba, Uganda.

Migration Seasonal occurrences at some places in Nigeria suggest migration, but could also be explained by the dispersal of young birds. Everywhere else the species is sedentary.

Food Mainly fishes, up to 6 cm long; also small crabs and aquatic insect larvae.

Habits Shining-blue Kingfishers are shy birds that live solitarily or in pairs, fishing from a perch 1–2 m high in reeds or waterside trees. Like River Kingfishers (76), they plunge steeply into water, and at night roost in tangled vegetation low over a stream. Nesting: breeding habits are not well known. This kingfisher is evidently a monogamous, territorial, solitary nester. Both birds of the pair dig the

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