Stork-billed Kingfisher
Pelargopsis capensis
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore
Kingfishers or Alcedinidae are a family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The family contains 114 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera.
All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small differences between the sexes. The kingfishers have a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring throughout the world's tropical and temperate regions. They are absent from the polar regions and some of the world's driest deserts. A number of species have reached islands groups, particularly those in the south and east Pacific Ocean. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, many species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. Some kingfishers nest in arboreal termite nests.
A number of species are considered threatened by human activities and are in danger of extinction. The majority of these are forest species with limited distribution, particularly insular species. They are threatened by habitat loss caused by forest clearance or degradation and in some cases by introduced species.
Kingfishers are generally shy birds, but in spite of this, they feature heavily in human culture, generally due to the large head supporting its powerful mouth, their bright plumage, or some species’ interesting behaviour. For the Dusun people of Borneo, the Oriental-dwarf Kingfisher is considered a bad omen, and warriors who see one on the way to battle should return home. Another Bornean tribe considers the Banded Kingfisher an omen bird, albeit generally a good omen.
I have been able to photograph a few of these beautiful kingfishers from all across Asia Pacific with some coming quite easily and some coming after waiting for hours, damp and cold but worth every bit the wait. Read about some of the kingfishers I have already written about.
Today is about one of these gorgeous birds at close quarters - the Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) - a massive tree kingfisher widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It sports a large scarlet bill, an olive-brown head with dark green-blue upperparts & buff underparts. The wings and tail are bluer, with the rump an even paler blue, obvious in flight. The juvenile has dusky edges to the feathers of their breast and hindneck. It is vocal in the breeding season, giving a loud, far-reaching “peu-peu-pow” whistle, while its regular contact call is a loud laughing “ka-ka-ka” repeated 6-10 times. It prefers large streams, rivers, and the edges of large water bodies with vegetated banks.
But first a little bit about where I accidentally bumped into this stunning kingfisher.
Singapore
Singapore’s urbanisation cost it almost 95% of its historical forests and just over half of the naturally occurring fauna & flora in Singapore is present in its numerous nature reserves. These nature reserves comprise only about 0.25% of Singapore’s land area and to combat this decline the government, from 1967, has tried to make Singapore a ‘garden city’. Since then, nearly 10% of Singapore’s land has been set aside for parks & nature reserves resulting in about 350 species of birds found within an area of just 650 km² offering enthusiasts excellent birding throughout the year. The best period is between August and April when the migrants, mostly from the Palearctic fly in, and together with the resident birds make it an exciting time.
Talking only of kingfishers, Singapore is home to a total of eight different types of kingfisher of which there are two stunning and rare. The first is the Blue-eared Kingfisher and the second is the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher which can sometimes be spotted in the winter. There are also others like the the Collared Kingfisher but today we will document the Stork-billed Kingfisher.
Apart from all the birding, Singapore is also a very picturesque city and lends itself kindly to some amazing wide angled cityscapes. Here are some 16:9 photos of a few glittering landmarks. I’ve also photographed some with their stunning National Day fireworks which adds a phenomenal touch to an already beautiful scene.
These kingfishers I have seen at numerous locations within Singapore like the Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve, Windsor Nature Park, Marina Bay Area & Jurong Eco Garden to name a few. I have also spotted the Stork-billed Kingfisher at various other locations in South Asia and India.
Central Business District, Singapore
Fullerton Hotel & Anderson Bridge, Singapore
Esplanade Bridge & the Central Business District, Singapore
The White Rainbow Bridge at the Chinese Garden, Jurong Eco Park. Photographed in Infrared - click on the image to read more.
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
The Sungei Buloh Wetlands are a wetland nature reserve in the northwest of Singapore. It is the first wetlands reserve to be gazetted in Singapore (2002), and its global importance as a stop-over point for migratory birds was recognised by the inclusion of the reserve into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network. The reserve, with an area of 130 hectares, was listed as an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003. It is one of those natural forests that play a big part in creating an ecological balance in the region.
The site only gained prominence in 1986 when a call was made to conserve the area by members of the Singapore Branch of the Malayan Nature Society. Particularly significant was its unusually high variety of bird species, which included migratory birds from as far as Siberia on their way to winter in Australia. Their suggestion was taken up by the government, and a site with an area of 0.87 km² was given nature park status in 1989. The Parks & Recreation Department, a precursor to today's National Parks Board, developed and managed the nature park with a team of experts. The most notable names from the team included the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust from the United Kingdom and World Wide Fund for Nature. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, then known as Sungei Buloh Nature Park, was officially opened on 6 December 1993 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
Among the many birds that can be spotted feeding on the diverse fauna variety of worms and molluscs, are the Eurasian whimbrel, common greenshank, common redshank, Mongolian plover, curlew sandpiper, marsh sandpiper and the Pacific golden plover, the yellow and the cinnamon bitterns. There is a resident family of smooth otters as well as the rare lesser whistling-duck, and the rare milky stork. The reserve forms part of the Kranji-Mandai Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports Chinese egrets, greater spotted eagles and greater crested terns. Atlas moth, the largest species of moth in Southeast Asia can be found in the back mangrove.
Observation hides are available where visitors can observe the flora and fauna in the surroundings in tranquility and at a distance from the animals and birds. Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are occasionally seen in the reserve, although it is not known whether or not these are individuals that had wandered over from Malaysia/ Indonesia or a remnant localised population. (This species was once common in Singapore but was said to be extinct.). It is one of the four nature reserves to be gazetted in Singapore.
With that said lets move on to the photos of this gorgeous tree kingfisher.
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Stork-billed Kingfisher
The Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) is a massive tree kingfisher widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It sports a large scarlet bill, an olive-brown head with dark green-blue upperparts & buff underparts. The wings and tail are bluer, with the rump an even paler blue, obvious in flight. The juvenile has dusky edges to the feathers of their breast and hindneck. It is vocal in the breeding season, giving a loud, far-reaching “peu-peu-pow” whistle, while its regular contact call is a loud laughing “ka-ka-ka” repeated 6-10 times. It prefers large streams, rivers, and the edges of large water bodies with vegetated banks.
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. The subfamily appears to have arisen in Indochina and Maritime Southeast Asia and then spread to many areas around the world. Tree kingfishers are widespread through Asia and Australasia, but also appear in Africa and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, using a range of habitats from tropical rainforest to open woodlands.
The tree kingfishers are short-tailed, large-headed, compact birds with long, pointed bills. Like other Coraciiformes, they are brightly coloured. Most are monogamous and territorial, nesting in holes in trees or termite nests. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Although some tree kingfishers frequent wetlands, none are specialist fish-eaters. Most species dive onto prey from a perch, mainly taking slow-moving invertebrates or small vertebrates.
The tree kingfisher subfamily is often given the name Daceloninae introduce by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1841, but the name Halcyoninae introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825 is earlier and has priority. The subfamily Halcyoninae is one of three subfamilies in the kingfisher family Alcedinidae. The other two are Alcedininae and Cerylinae. The subfamily contains around 70 species divided into 12 genera. A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genera Dacelo and Actenoides as currently defined are paraphyletic. The shovel-billed kookaburra in the monotypic genus Clytoceyx sits within Dacelo and the glittering kingfisher in the monotypic genus Caridonax lies within Actenoides.
Most tree kingfishers are found in the warm climates of Africa, southern and southeast Asia, and Australasia. No members of this family are found in the Americas. The origin of the family is thought to have been in tropical Australasia, which still has the most species.
Tree kingfishers use a range of habitats from tropical rainforest to open woodlands and thorn-bush country. Many are not closely tied to water, and can be found in arid areas of Australia and Africa.
The first formal description of the Stork-billed Kingfisher was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae. He coined the binomial name Alcedo capensis. Linnaeus based his description on Mathurin Jacques Brisson's "Le martin-pescheur du Cap de Bonne Espérance". Brisson believed his specimen had come from the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa. The species does not occur in Africa and it was suggested that the specimen had been obtained on the Indonesian island of Java. The specimen is now known to have come from near Chandannagar in West Bengal, India. Linnaeus's specific epithet capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope. The current genus Pelargopsis was introduced by the German zoologist Constantin Gloger in 1841.
Thirteen subspecies are recognised:
Pelargopsis capensis capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) – Nepal through India to Sri Lanka
Pelargopsis capensis osmastoni (Baker, ECS, 1934) – Andaman Islands
Pelargopsis capensis intermedia Hume, 1874 – Nicobar Islands
Pelargopsis capensis burmanica Sharpe, 1870 – Myanmar to Indochina and south to north Malay Peninsula
Pelargopsis capensis malaccensis Sharpe, 1870 – central and south Malay Peninsula, Riau Archipelagoand Lingga Islands
Pelargopsis capensis cyanopteryx (Oberholser, 1909) – Sumatra, Bangka Island and Belitung Island
Pelargopsis capensis simalurensis Richmond, 1903 – Simeulue Island (off the west coast of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia)
Pelargopsis capensis sodalis Richmond, 1903 – Banyak, Nias, Batu and Mentawai Islands (off the west coast of Sumatra)
Pelargopsis capensis innominata (van Oort, 1910) – Borneo
Pelargopsis capensis javana (Boddaert, 1783) – Java
Pelargopsis capensis floresiana Sharpe, 1870 – Bali to Flores (Lesser Sunda Islands)
Pelargopsis capensis gouldi Sharpe, 1870 – north Philippines
Pelargopsis capensis gigantea Walden, 1874 – central and south Philippines
The insular forms nesoeca on the Nias and Batu Islands as well as isoptera on Mentawai Island are here subsumed within sodalis. Prior to the change of type locality to Chandannagar, the birds in India were placed in the subspecies gurial but this race is now synonymised with the nominate race capensis.
The Stork-billed Kingfisher is a very large kingfisher, measuring 35 cm in length. The adult has a green back, blue wings and tail, and olive-brown head. Its underparts and neck are buff. The very large bill and legs are bright red. The flight of the Stork-billed Kingfisher is laboured and flapping, but direct. Sexes are similar. There are 13 races or subspecies, differing mostly in plumage detail, but P. c. gigantea of the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines has a white head, neck and underparts.
SUB-SPECIES
Pelargopsis capensis capensis - Distributed in the Indian subcontinent along the base of the Himalayas and the Ganges plain, from western Uttarakhand and southern Nepal to Assam and Bangladesh, and from Gujarat and the south of West Bengal to Sri Lanka.
Pelargopsis capensis burmanica - Distributed in Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina S up to approximately the isthmus of Kra (in the Malay peninsula).
Pelargopsis capensis intermedia - Distributed in the Nicobar Islands
Pelargopsis capensis osmastoni - Distributed in the Andaman Islands
Pelargopsis capensis malaccensis - Distributed from the isthmus of Kra South to the archipelagos of Riau and Lingga.
Pelargopsis capensis cyanopteryx - Distributed in Sumatra, Bangka and Belitung.
Pelargopsis capensis simalurensis - Distributed in Simeulue I, in front of northwest Sumatra.
Pelargopsis capensis sodalis - Distributed in Banyak Is, in front of northwest Sumatra.
Pelargopsis capensis innominata - Distributed in Borneo.
Pelargopsis capensis floresiana - Distributed in Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores, occasionally E to Pantar.
Pelargopsis capensis javana - Distributed in Java
Pelargopsis capensis gouldi - Distributed in Lubang, Mindoro, Calauit, Culion, Palawan and Balabac, in the western Philippines.
Pelargopsis capensis gigantea - Distributed in Central and South of the Philippines South of Polillo, including the Sulu archipelago.
The Stork-billed Kingfisher is generally found in a variety of lowland coastal habitats, such as the wooded edges of streams, canals, large rivers, reservoirs, lakes and seashores, up to 870 m, but up to 1200 m in India, Borneo and Flores. It occurs in the depths of the primary rainforest, swampy forests, bamboo forests and mangroves, but also in more open areas such as coconut plantations and rice fields; it is often seen perched in the roots of mangroves by the sea. In peninsular Malaysia it is frequent in the mangroves of the NE, but apparently it is not found in the mangroves of the NO, where the Brown-winged Kingfisher (P. amauroptera) occurs. It perches quietly whilst seeking food, and is often inconspicuous despite its size. It is territorial and will chase away eagles and other large predators.
The Stork-billed Kingfisher is largely sedentary with some local movements. It feeds mainly on marine fish and freshwater fish, crabs and other crustaceans, but also take frogs, lizards, rodents, juvenile birds, also insects (Coleoptera) and insect larvae. It perches silently on roots of stilts in mangroves or on branches that protrude from the water, usually 2-4 m above the water, observing in search of prey and occasionally wiggles the head or tail. It stands vertically, with the beak tilted 40° below the horizontal; it dives with a pronounced angle in the water or on land to capture the prey, which is brought back to the perch and hit against the branch a few times to immobilize it, before being swallowed. They have been recorded following Smooth-haired Otters (Lutra perspicillata) in search of food and taking prey disturbed by them.
The call of this noisy kingfisher is a low and far reaching “peer-por-por” repeated about every 5 seconds, as well cackling “ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke”.
It is not globally threatened (Minor Worry). It is widespread and found in a wide variety of habitats, locally common in some areas, but generally sparsely distributed; common in the dry lowlands of Sri Lanka. It is found in several protected areas in much of its distribution area. The distribution area may be decreasing, since there are apparently no recent records of Lombok, and in mainland India the species has apparently decreased to almost extinction in the state of Gujarat, even within protected areas, perhaps as a result of ecosystem degradation by sedimentation, overfishing and the construction of containment dikes
The following gallery of the Collared Kingfisher is of one individual I came across by accident in the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. They have also been observed at the Central Catchment Forest, Kranji Marsh, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Japanese Garden, Jurong Eco Garden, Hindhede Quarry, Pulau Ubin, Sungei Buloh and such patches of suitable habitat.
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