Most guide books have listed this bird as one species i.e Halcyon chloris. Robson (2007) has however divided this kingfisher to a number of subspecies. Here are the subspecies described:
i) Todiramphus chloris - armstrongi (description: blue above with turquoise wash, whitish collar etc).
ii) Todiramphus chloris - humii (description: bluer above).
iii) Todiramphus chloris - davisoni (description: smaller, blackish-green head-sides).
Robson (2007) further explained that T.c armstrongi is wide spread while T.c humii can be found from Myanmar, South Thailand southwards and T.c davisoni is from Coco Island. I will show some photos of the various collared kingfishers here and let you decide which region they are originated:
The top photos could be from the armstrongi subspecies. The photos were taken at Kampung Nelayan, Tanjung Dawai, Kedah - Feb 2012.
This could be from the humii subspecies. The photos were taken at a mangrove area in Merbok Forest Reserve, Kedah - Feb 2012.
Could this be from the davisoni subspecies? Photos were taken from Teluk Air Tawar IBA - Jan 2012. A much better photo of this subspecies can be viewed at http://www.birdway.com.au/.
The tinge of brownish on its sides may suggest that it could be a juvenile. Image was taken at Air Itam Dalam in December 2014.
HAPPY BIRDING !!
2 comments:
Here is the current breakdown of these sub-species by location:
Collared Kingfisher (Oriental) Todiramphus chloris [humii Group]
Todiramphus chloris humii NW India to Malay Pen., Thailand, Myanmar, Mergui Arch.
Todiramphus chloris vidali Peninsular India (Ratnagiri District)
Todiramphus chloris armstrongi S Thailand and Myanmar
Todiramphus chloris davisoni Andaman Islands and Cocos Islands (Indian Ocean)
Collared Kingfisher (Nicobar Is.) Todiramphus chloris occipitalis Nicobar Islands
Collared Kingfisher (Collared) Todiramphus chloris [chloris Group]
Todiramphus chloris chloropterus Islands off w Sumatra (except Enggano)
Todiramphus chloris azelus Enggano I. (off sw Sumatra)
Todiramphus chloris palmeri Java, Bali and adjacent islands in Java Sea
Todiramphus chloris laubmannianus S Sumatra, Borneo and adjacent islands
Todiramphus chloris collaris Philippines, Sulu Archipelago and Palawan
Todiramphus chloris chloris Sulawesi to nw New Guinea and Lesser Sundas
Todiramphus chloris teraokai Palau Islands (w Caroline Islands)
You will notice that those in West Malaysia are all SSP humii, regardless of the plumage variations, most of which are caused more by lighting variations than anything else.
Ssp. armstrongi is found in Thailand and Myanmar only and Ssp. Davisoni is found on Andaman & Cocos Is only.
Other than location they can only be reliably separated by DNA analysis.
Those seen in Borneo (East Malaysia) will be ssp.laubmannianus, I mention this because there is a Kampung Nelayan in Sabah which is a recommended birding location.
Hi ! Malcolm,
It was very kind of you to provide the above info. Thank you very much.
Post a Comment