Birds Thru My Eyes : MALAYSIA: Kingfisher; Banded

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

Order - Coraciiformes
Family - Alcedinidae (Kingfishers)

Banded Kingfisher

Lacedo pulchella

横斑翠鸟 (héng-bān cuì-niǎo)

Malay : Kaing-kaing Rimba

Japanese : カザリショウビン (kazari shōbin)

Kanji 日語漢字 : 飾り翡翠

  Extent of Occurrence (resident/breeding) : 4,850,000km²
  Migratory Status : Not a Migrant
  Breeding Endemic : No

Size : 20–24.5 cm; adult males (nominate) 40·8–48.5 g, adult females 46.5–54.3 g
a single unsexed (melanops) 50g

Subspecies (3) and Distribution

EBIRD GROUP (POLYTYPIC)

Banded Kingfisher (Banded) Lacedo pulchella [pulchella Group]

Lacedo pulchella amabilis (A. O. Hume, 1873, Eastern Pegu Hills in the latitude of Thayetmyo, Myanmar)
– Occurs in the lowland forests of southern Myanmar, Thailand, and southern Vietnam.

Identification :
– Very similar to the nominate subspecies, but slightly larger and longer tailed; the hindcrown of the male is blue (not chestnut), and the female is a deeper rufous. Two specimens available to Deignan had tails measuring 83.8 and 76.2 mm (compared to 64–79 mm for the nominate subspecies).

Lacedo pulchella deignani (Meyer de Schauensee, 1946, Nakon Sritamarat, Peninsular Siam)
– Known only from Peninsular Thailand.

Identification :
– Said to differ in females being less densely barred on the underparts, and males having slightly more purplish on the cap, with paler rufous underparts and a mid-dorsal narrowing or breaking of the chestnut hindcollar. However, these characters are said to vary individually, and this taxon probably represents nothing more than an intergrade between L. p. pulchella and L. p. amabilis.

Lacedo pulchella pulchella (Horsfield, 1821, Java)
– Occurs throughout the Peninsular Malaysia, although it has been extinct on Singapore for at least 40 years; also on Sumatra, including the Riau Archipelago, the North Natuna Islands, and east to Java.