The half-collared kingfisher (''Alcedo semitorquata'') is a

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Alcedininae The river kingfishers or pygmy kingfishers, subfamily Alcedininae, are one of the three subfamilies of kingfishers. The river kingfishers are widespread through Africa and east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common kin ...

that is found in southern and eastern Africa. It feeds almost exclusively on fish and frequents streams, rivers and larger bodies of water. The half-collared kingfisher was described by the English ornithologist

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

in 1823 and given its current

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Alcedo semitorquata''. The word ''Alcedo'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for a "kingfisher". The specific epithet ''semitorquata'' is from the Latin ''semi-'' for "half" or "small" and ''torquatus'' for "collared". The blue-eared kingfisher is one of seven species in the genus ''Alcedo'' and is most closely related to the

shining-blue kingfisher The shining-blue kingfisher (''Alcedo quadribrachys'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in Equatorial Africa. The shining-blue kingfisher was described of by the French ornithologist Charles Lucian Bonaparte in 1850 ...

(''Alcedo quadribrachys'').

Description

The half-collared kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher. It is around in length with a weight of . It has blue upperparts, a white throat and pale orange underparts. The head has alternating light blue and dark blue bands running across the crown and each side of the neck has a creamy white stripe. The dark blue patches on either side of the neck form a half collar. The legs and feet are red. The sexes are very similar but the bill of the male is entirely black while the female has some red at the base of the lower mandible.

References

External links

* Half-collared kingfisher
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

half-collared kingfisher The half-collared kingfisher (''Alcedo semitorquata'') is a kingfisher in the subfamily Alcedininae that is found in southern and eastern Africa. It feeds almost exclusively on fish and frequents streams, rivers and larger bodies of water. The ...

Birds of East Africa Birds of Southern Africa

{{Coraciiformes-stub