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Halcyon (genus)
''Halcyon'' () is a genus of the tree kingfishers, near passerine birds in the subfamily Halcyoninae. Taxonomy The genus ''Halcyon'' was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William John Swainson in 1821. He named the type species as the woodland kingfisher (''Halcyon senegalensis''). "Halcyon" is a name for a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the bird nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. Two weeks of calm weather were therefore expected around the winter solstice. This myth leads to the use of halcyon as a term for peace or calmness. The genus contains 12 species: * However, other sources, including Fry & Fry, lump the genera ''Pelargopsis'', '' Syma'' and '' Todirhamphus'' into ''Halcyon'' to make a much larger grouping. Geographic distribution The genus ''Halcyon'' in the current sense consists mainly of species resident in sub-Saharan Africa, with a couple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodland Kingfisher
The woodland kingfisher (''Halcyon senegalensis'') is a tree kingfisher that is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara. Taxonomy The Southern Africa naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the woodland kingfisher with the binomial name ''Alcedo senegalensis'' in the twelfth edition of his '' System Natureul'' which was published in 1766. Linnaeus based his formal description on "Le Grand Martin-Pescher du Sénégal" that the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson had described and illustrated in 1760. The current genus ''Halcyon'' was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William John Swainson in 1821, with the woodland kingfisher as the type species. Three subspecies are recognised: * ''H. s. fuscopileus'' Reichenow, 1906 – Sierra Leone to south Nigeria and south to DR Congo and north Angola * ''H. s. senegalensis'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia and north Tanzania * ''H. s. cyanoleuca'' (Vieillot, 1818) – south Angola and west ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javan Kingfisher
The Javan kingfisher (''Halcyon cyanoventris''), sometimes called the blue-bellied kingfisher or Java kingfisher, is a medium-sized kingfisher (subfamily Halcyoninae) endemic to the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali. The brightly-colored Javan kingfisher has the large head and bill typical of kingfishers, although the species is less suited for aquatic hunting than many of its relatives and catches much of its prey on land or near the water's edge. The highly territorial bird lays its round white eggs in burrows excavated from earthen walls and riverbanks. Taxonomy The Javan kingfisher was first described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot, who gave it the scientific name ''Alcedo cyanoventris''. In 1821, William John Swainson created the genus ''Halcyon'' for some of kingfishers — primarily those with stronger, thicker, more rounded beaks. The bird is today listed under the genus ''Halcyon'', referring to the “Halcyon” bird of Greek legend, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon Senegalensis) South Africa
The woodland kingfisher (''Halcyon senegalensis'') is a tree kingfisher that is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara. Taxonomy The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the woodland kingfisher with the binomial name ''Alcedo senegalensis'' in the twelfth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' which was published in 1766. Linnaeus based his formal description on "Le Grand Martin-Pescher du Sénégal" that the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson had described and illustrated in 1760. The current genus ''Halcyon'' was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William John Swainson in 1821, with the woodland kingfisher as the type species. Three subspecies are recognised: * ''H. s. fuscopileus'' Reichenow, 1906 – Sierra Leone to south Nigeria and south to DR Congo and north Angola * ''H. s. senegalensis'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia and north Tanzania * ''H. s. cyanoleuca'' (Vieillot, 1818) – south Angola and west Tanza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue-breasted Kingfisher
The blue-breasted kingfisher (''Halcyon malimbica'') is a tree kingfisher widely distributed across Equatorial Africa. This kingfisher is essentially resident, but retreats from drier savanna areas to wetter habitats in the dry season. This is a large kingfisher, 25 cm in length. The adult has a bright blue head, back, wing panel and tail. Its underparts are white, but it has a blue breast band. The shoulders are black. The flight of the blue-breasted kingfisher is rapid and direct. The large bill has a red upper mandible and black lower mandible. The legs are bright red. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller than adults. The call of this noisy kingfisher is a whistled ''pu-pu-pu-pu-ku-ku-ku-ku''. The blue-breasted kingfisher is a species of a variety of well-wooded habitats. It perches quietly in deep shade whilst seeking food. It is territorial but wary. This species mainly hunts large insects, arthropods, fish and frog A frog is any member of a diverse and l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds 1000692 (31271406382)
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. Birds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Striped Kingfisher
The striped kingfisher (''Halcyon chelicuti'') is a species of bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily. It was first described by Edward, Lord Stanley, in ''Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia''Salt (1816) in 1814 as "Chelicut kingfisher" ''Alaudo Chelicuti''.In the index on p432 the genus is given as ''Alcedo'', but the description on p439 is headed, presumably in error, as ''Alaudo''. The genus name ''Halcyon'' comes from a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the halcyon nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest.Halcyon days The species' name ''chelicuti'' derives from Chelicut in Ethiopia, the location at which Stanley's type specimen was obtained. This is a highly territorial bird which will chase off not only others of the same species, but also shrikes, doves and rollers. The territory may be up to three hectares (7.4 acres) in size, and hold 100 tall trees. It is surveyed from a treeto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown-hooded Kingfisher
The brown-hooded kingfisher (''Halcyon albiventris'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It has a brown head and blackish and turquoise wings. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, living in woodland, scrubland, forest edges, and also suburban areas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern. Taxonomy This species was described as ''Alcedo albiventris'' by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1786. Four subspecies are recognised: ''Halcyon albiventris albiventris'', ''H. a. orientalis'', ''H. a. prentissgrayi'' and ''H. a. vociferans''. Subspecies ''hylophila'' and ''erlangeri'' have also been described, but they are not considered distinct enough. Description The brown-hooded kingfisher is about long. The head is brown, with blackish streaks. There is a broad buffy collar above the brownish-black mantle. The wing coverts are mostly brownish-black, and the secondary flight feathers are turquoise. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Male Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Halcyon Albiventris
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to at least one ovum from a female, but some organisms can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Most male mammals, including male humans, have a Y chromosome, which codes for the production of larger amounts of testosterone to develop male reproductive organs. Not all species share a common sex-determination system. In most animals, including humans, sex is determined genetically; however, species such as ''Cymothoa exigua'' change sex depending on the number of females present in the vicinity. In humans, the word ''male'' can also be used to refer to gender in the social sense of gender role or gender identity. Overview The existence of separate sexes has evolved independently at different times and in different lineages, an example of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-headed Kingfisher
The grey-headed kingfisher (''Halcyon leucocephala'') is a species of kingfisher that has a wide distribution from the Cape Verde Islands off the north-west coast of Africa to Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia and southern Arabia and south to South Africa. Taxonomy The first formal description of the grey-headed kingfisher was by the German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776. He coined the binomial name ''Alcedo leucocephala''. The current genus ''Halcyon'' was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William John Swainson in 1821. The name of the genus is from the classical Greek ''alkuōn'', a mythical bird, generally associated with the kingfisher. The specific epithet ''leucocephala'' is from the classical Greek ''leukos'' meaning "white" and ''-kephalos'' for "-headed". Five subspecies are recognised: * ''H. l. acteon'' ( Lesson, R, 1830) – Cape Verde Islands * ''H. l. leucocephala'' (Statius Müller, PL, 1776) – Senegal and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon Leucocephala) (11929836715), Crop
The grey-headed kingfisher (''Halcyon leucocephala'') is a species of kingfisher that has a wide distribution from the Cape Verde Islands off the north-west coast of Africa to Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia and southern Arabia and south to South Africa. Taxonomy The first formal description of the grey-headed kingfisher was by the German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776. He coined the binomial name ''Alcedo leucocephala''. The current genus ''Halcyon'' was introduced by the English naturalist and artist William John Swainson in 1821. The name of the genus is from the classical Greek ''alkuōn'', a mythical bird, generally associated with the kingfisher. The specific epithet ''leucocephala'' is from the classical Greek ''leukos'' meaning "white" and ''-kephalos'' for "-headed". Five subspecies are recognised: * ''H. l. acteon'' ( Lesson, R, 1830) – Cape Verde Islands * ''H. l. leucocephala'' (Statius Müller, PL, 1776) – Senegal and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-capped Kingfisher
The black-capped kingfisher (''Halcyon pileata'') is a tree kingfisher which is widely distributed in tropical Asia from India east to China, Korea and Southeast Asia. This most northerly of the tree kingfishers is resident over much of its range, but northern populations are migratory, wintering south of their range in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Borneo and Java. It is distinctive in having a black cap that contrasts with the whitish throat, purple-blue wings and the coral red bill. The species is mainly found in coastal and mangrove habitats but can sometimes be found far inland. Taxonomy The black-capped kingfisher was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' in 1780. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'', which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neithe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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