G'day guys
The bird photographed in Tom's garden is certainly a Sacred Kingfisher, not a
Collared (formerly named as Mangrove in Aust).
The spot before the eye in Collared KF is always whiter than Sacred, & like
Greg says, usually appears as a spot rather than a patch thinning toward the
eye & therefore forming a brow. The bird photographed to my mind is a classic
freshly-plumaged adult Sacred KF.
Other features to help rule out Collared from Sacred include, amongst others,
non-clean white breast/underparts (too buffy & black-edged for Collared) &
peacock blue upperparts (Collared would have, in males & even less-so in
females, peacock blue wings but not so much on back/mantle). From my
observations up here in Cairns I find that at this time of year the arriving
Sacreds look like this individual photographed, wheres the Collareds which are
resident here, don't go through such a dramatic change in plumage appearance &
just look pretty similar to how they usually look all year, compared to
Sacreds. Much greater bill length/proportion, together with much larger size,
much greener & cleaner-white underparts (plus lores) helps to sort out the
Collareds from the Sacreds up here. Then the calls are very different as well.
I hope that this helps a little.
Cheers
Martin Cachard
Cairns
0428 782 808
> From:
> To: ;
> Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:10:42 +1000
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mangrove Kingfisher
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> Looks like a Sacred Kingfisher to me, especially with the distinct eyebrow.
> The Collared (Mangrove) Kingfisher has a spot on the lores rather than an
> eyebrow. I would be interested in the views of others on the list.
>
> Regards
>
> Greg Clancy
> Ecologist and Birding Guide
> Coutts Crossing NSW
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