White Throated Kingfisher

The White-throated Kingfisher is one of the tree kingfishers. The biological name for this white throated kingfisher is Halcyon smyrnensis. It also called as White-breasted Kingfisher or Smyrna Kingfisher.

The quick clarification of White throated kingfisher is given below,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Coraciiformes
Family	Halcyonidae
Genus	Halcyon
Species	Halcyon smyrnensis

Physical Characteristics:

The White throated kingfisher is one of the noisy birds with length measuring about 28 cm. It is a large kingfisher when compared to others. The wingspan measure of this kingfisher is 40 to 42 cm. The weight of this kingfisher is 75 to 110g. These Kingfishers have large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. The adult kingfisher has a bright blue back.

The white throated kingfisher has a chesnut head, flanks, shoulders and lower belly. Its throat and breast are white in colour. Its large bill and legs are bright red in colour. They have huge and long pointed bills which come in handy to hammer their prey to death. Swarming termites may also be caught during its flight. It takes rapid and direct flight. Its large white patches are visible during the flight. Both male and female kingfishers are similar.

White throated kingfishers produce a loud call to make a notice about their presence among their species. These species are generally very shy in nature. The White throated kingfishers produce a chuckling "chake-ake-ake-ake-ake" sound during its call. They become very noisy during the breeding season.

Habitat:

White throated kingfishers are commonly seen in India. The range of this white throated kingfisher is expanding day by day. They are commonly seen in variety of habitats like rural areas, on telephone wires, forest streams, roadside trees, Pond wetland, parks, large gardens, farmlands, dams, canals, swamps, and rivers. They are always found at 8 to 10 m above from the ground surface.

Migration:

White throated kingfishers are basically resident in nature. But sometimes they take seasonable movements. Sometimes they are attracted by the lights at night and take the movements from one place to another. Especially during the breeding season, they do migration between short distances.

Food Habits:

As a group, White throated kingfishers eat a wide range of food. Each bird in the group may specialize in a particular prey. These species ] prefer to take fish as their food during the wet season. They take any small creature which they can hunt as their food.

The main food for the white throated kingfishers are tadpoles, lizards, grasshoppers, crickets, earwigs, cockroaches, bugs, beetles, rodents and insects. They may take crabs,amphibians such as frogs and reptiles such as skinks, lizards as their food while hunting along the water.

They take large insects and arthropods such as grasshoppers, beetles, termites, scorpions, centipedes as their food on land.

They even take small mammals such as rats, mice, voles, nestling birds, and snakes up to 65cm long as their food. Some times the White throated kingfishers dive into the water to catch the aquatic prey.

Places Found

White throated kingfisher is commonly seen in various places in India. They are also found in the Himalayas at 7500 ft above the ground level. White throated kingfisher is also commonly seen in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia.

Mating and Nesting:

White throated kingfishers breed during December to May. White throated Kingfishers build the nest in steep earth banks along the roads and streams, or earth blanks besides the river and coastal areas and occasionally at termite mounds.

Both male and female will involve in the nest construction. First, male kingfisher starts the digging work by flying at the surface and makes a grip to start digging. Then, the male and female dig the place together.

They dig a tunnel in the range of 7 cm wide, 50 cm to 1 m deep. The diameter of the breeding chamber is 20 cm. During the nest construction time, the mated pairs are very vocal in nature. They call and display each other continuously.

The white throated kingfishers usually lay 4 to 6 eggs at a time. Both male and female kingfishers raise the chicks. The White throated kingfisher's eggs are white in colour. Both male and female will involve in the incubation. Initially, female starts the incubation. After sometimes, male will take over. Sometimes, more than one female will lay in the same nest. The hatchlings are naked and blind and they do not have feathers at that time. But they get their adult feathers immediately.

The White throated kingfishers are threatened by the habitat destruction which reduces the suitable nest sites. These are also affected by the dams, irrigation projects, reclamation and pollution which change the water flow and quality.

Due to human disturbances, sometimes the parent kingfishers are unable to reenter into the nest. Since the nestlings are naked there is lot of possibilities for the nestlings to die due to cold as well.

So, the human presence near the kingfishers breeding place become a threat to it. These species occupy a large range in the global arena. The White throated kingfisher is denoted as "least concern" by the IUCN Red List.

Subspecies of Ehite throated Kingfisher in India

This White throated kingfisher form a super species by combining with the Halcyon cyanoventris. There are four recognized geographic races. They are varying in size and other physical characteristics. That is,

1. Smyrnensis is commonly seen in Turkey, Northern and Central Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and northwestern India.
2. Fusca is commonly seen in India, Sri Lanka, South China, Taiwan, Sumatra and West Java.
3. Saturatior is commonly seen in India and Andaman Islands.
4. Gularis is commonly seen in the Indian subcontinent and Philippines.

Interesting facts about White throated kingfisher

1. There are totally 93 species of kingfisher which are recognized in the world. Among that 13 species are commonly seen in India. Those species are, Common kingfisher, Blue eared kingfisher, Black backed kingfisher, Brown winged kingfisher, Ruddy kingfisher, Rufous backed kingfisher, Stork billed kingfisher, White throated kingfisher, Crested kingfisher, Collared kingfisher, Black capped kingfisher, Blyth's kingfisher and Pied kingfisher.
2. White throated kingfisher is the state bird of West Bengal, India.