The Kofiau paradise kingfisher (''Tanysiptera ellioti'') is a

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 ...

belonging to the family Alcedinidae, subfamily

Halcyoninae The tree kingfishers, also called wood kingfishers or Halcyoninae, are the most numerous of the three family (biology), subfamilies of birds in the kingfisher family, with around 70 species divided into 12 genus, genera, including several specie ...

Taxonomy

This little-known bird is sometimes considered a subspecies of the

common paradise kingfisher The common paradise kingfisher (''Tanysiptera galatea''), also known as the Galatea paradise kingfisher and the racquet-tailed kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is found in subtropical or tropical moist lowland fores ...

(''T. galatea''), but it is morphologically distinct and del Hoyo lists it as a separate species.

Distribution

Tanysiptera ellioti by John Gerrard Keulemans

This species is endemic to the

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 ...

n island Kofiau, off the west coast of

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 ...

Habitat

The ''Kofiau paradise kingfisher'' inhabits primary forest, tall secondary forest and subtropical/tropical moist lowlands. The species is also common in lightly wooded village gardens.

Description

The Kofiau paradise kingfisher is about long including its elongated tail feathers, reaching . The head and upper parts of both male and female are dark blue and the rump, tail and underparts are white. The central tail feathers are long and tapering. The bill is scarlet. Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016,

Biology

It feeds on insects and worms that it catches on the ground.

References

Kofiau paradise kingfisher Birds of the Raja Ampat Islands Kofiau paradise kingfisher {{Coraciiformes-stub