Thursday, April 24, 2025

Stork-Billed Kingfisher

I got a poor photo of one stork-billed kingfisher on the road to the eastern range of Kaziranga NP standing on a power line. There are 13 subspecies and they vary in color, but generally it has a green back, blue wings and tail, and buff underparts and neck. It has a very large bill, like a stork's, which is red as are the legs and feet. Both sexes are similar. Pelargopsis capensis capensis, the nominate subspecies, is found in the Indian Subcontinent along the base of the Himalayas and the Gangetic Plain, from west Uttarakhand and south Nepal to Assam and Bangladesh, and from southeast Gujarat and southwest Bengal to Sri Lanka. 
This illustration of the stork-billed kingfisher, ssp capensis, is what I should have been seeing in Assam, where Kaziranga NP is located. This is from Birds of the World. 

This is my photo. Note the darker head and the darker tip of the bill. 

This is an illustration of P. c. floresiana found in the Sunda Islands of Indonesia, including Bali and Flores. Note the darker head and blacker tip of the bill. From Birds of the World. To me it looks more like the subspecies I saw. 

This is the range of the stork-billed kingfisher from Birds of the World. 

1 comment: