The scaly-breasted kingfisher or regent kingfisher (''Actenoides princeps'') is a species of

bird 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 lightweigh ...

in the family Alcedinidae

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to central and southwestern

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical, moist, montane forests.

Description

The adult scaly-breasted kingfisher measures about in length. It has a blue head and reddish-brown collar, and the female has a buff-coloured forehead. The back is dark brown scalloped with buff. The underparts are plain whitish-buff in the male and are barred with darker colour in the female. Birds in the northeast of the range have horn-coloured bills, northwestern birds have red bills, and southern birds have orange and brown bills. Also some differences are seen between the subspecies in the detail of the plumage. The only bird with which this species might be confused is the

green-backed kingfisher The green-backed kingfisher (''Actenoides monachus'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae endemic to Indonesia, where it is restricted to north and central Sulawesi, and the islands of Manadotua and Lembeh. It can be found in the prote ...

(''Actenoides monachus''), also present in Sulawesi, but that species is usually found at lower altitudes and has a dark-green back and reddish-brown underparts.

Distribution and habitat

The scaly-breasted kingfisher is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Two subspecies are found in moist, montane forests, ''A. p. princeps'' from the northeast of the island and ''A. p. erythrorhamphus'' from the northwest and central parts. ''A. p. regalis'' is found in the southeast, but is now regarded as its own species, the

plain-backed kingfisher The plain-backed kingfisher (''Actenoides princeps regalis'') is a kingfisher in the subfamily Halcyoninae that is endemic to southeastern Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is known from two specimens from interior montane forests at an elevation around ...

. In the

Minahassa Peninsula The Minahasa Peninsula, also spelled Minahassa, is one of the four principal peninsulas on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It stretches north from the central part of the island, before turning to the east and forming the northern boundary of th ...

of northern Sulawesi, the nominate subspecies is found in the

Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve is a preserved area in the north of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is in a mountainous, little-explored region and contains a large number of indigenous plants and animals. Geography The Gunung Ambang Nature R ...

in primary forest at elevations between above sea level. Its habitat is the dense understorey of undisturbed primary forest.

Behaviour

The call of the scaly-breasted kingfisher, a series of mournful whistles, is more likely to be heard around dawn than later in the day. It perches on a branch in the forest and periodically makes short flights with its wings creating a whirring noise. It feeds on beetles and other small invertebrates. One female was observed to eat a lizard. It is believed to nest in holes in earth banks.

Status

The scaly-breasted kingfisher has a somewhat restricted range in Indonesia and its population size is believed to be decreasing due to habitat loss, but is considered to be least concern by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. Image:Actenoides princeps princeps, adult male.JPG , Adult male Image:Scaly-breasted Kingfisher, female.JPG , Male Image:Actenoides princeps princeps, female.JPG , Female Image:Actenoides princeps princeps, male.JPG , Male

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1270410

scaly-breasted kingfisher The scaly-breasted kingfisher or regent kingfisher (''Actenoides princeps'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae endemic to central and southwestern Sulawesi in Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical, moist, montane ...

Endemic birds of Sulawesi

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach