The yellow-billed kingfisher (''Syma torotoro'') is a medium-sized
tree kingfisher
The tree kingfishers, also called wood kingfishers or Halcyoninae, are the most numerous of the three subfamilies of birds in the kingfisher family, with around 70 species divided into 12 genera, including several species of kookaburras. Th ...
.
Taxonomy
Three subspecies are recognised:
*''Syma torotoro torotoro'' (
Lesson
A lesson or class is a structured period of time where learning is intended to occur. It involves one or more students (also called pupils or learners in some circumstances) being taught by a teacher or instructor. A lesson may be either one ...
, 1827) found in
West Papuan islands, lowland
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
,
Yapen Island and
Aru
*''S. t. flavirostris'' (
Gould, 1850) found in
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...
in northeastern Australia
*''S. t. ochracea'' (
Rothschild
Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...
and
Hartert, 1901) found in the
D'Entrecasteaux Islands of eastern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
Description
The yellow-billed kingfisher is long, with a wingspan of , and it weighs .
Its orange colouring and yellow bill are distinctive; it has an orange head and neck with a black nape patch and white throat. Adult females also have a black crown patch.
The upper mantle is blackish grading to olive green on the back, blue-green on rump and with a blue tail.
The upperwing is dull green-blue with dark olive-black flight feathers. The underparts are pale orange-grey. The bill is orange-yellow in adults, dark grey in juveniles.
Distribution and habitat
The yellow-billed kingfisher is widespread throughout lowland
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
and the adjacent islands, extending to northern
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...
in
Australia. It may be found in
rainforest, monsoon forest and along forest edges.
Behaviour
Feeding
The yellow-billed kingfisher is known to prey on large insects, earthworms, and small snakes and lizards.
It perches in the low canopy, swaying from side to side, before swooping down to the ground to take its prey.
Breeding
The nest of the yellow-billed kingfisher is usually an excavated chamber in an arboreal
termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...
nest.
[Woodall, P. F. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). "Yellow-billed Kingfisher (Syma torotoro), version 1.0." In ''Birds of the World'' (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yebkin1.01] The female lays a clutch of 3 or 4 glossy white, rounded eggs, measuring .
[Morcombe, Michael (2012) ''Field Guide to Australian Birds.'' Pascal Press, Glebe, NSW. Revised edition. ]
Voice
Calls include loud, repeated whistling trills like a postman's whistle, mainly during the breeding season.
Conservation status
With a large range and no evidence of significant decline, the conservation status of this species is assessed as being of
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
.
References
* BirdLife International. (2006). Species factsheet: ''Syma torotoro''. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14 March 2007.
* Coates, Brian J. (1985). ''The Birds of Papua New Guinea. Volume 1: Non-Passerines''. Dove Publications: Alderley, Queensland.
* Higgins, P.J. (ed). (1999). ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4: Parrots to Dollarbird''. Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
External links
Photos, audio and video of yellow-billed kingfisherfrom
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...
's Macaulay Library
Recordings of yellow-billed kingfisherfrom Xeno-canto sound archive
{{Authority control
yellow-billed kingfisher
Birds of Cape York Peninsula
yellow-billed kingfisher
Taxa named by René Lesson