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Common kingfisher

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Thecommon kingfisher(Alcedo atthis), also known as theEurasian kingfisherandriver kingfisher,is a smallkingfisherwith seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution acrossEurasiaandNorth Africa.It is resident in much of its range, butmigratesfrom areas where rivers freeze in winter.

Common kingfisher
Male
England
Female
Kecskemét,Hungary
BothA. a. ispida
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
Subfamily: Alcedininae
Genus: Alcedo
Species:
A. atthis
Binomial name
Alcedo atthis
Breeding range
Resident all year round
Non-breeding range
Synonyms

Gracula atthisLinnaeus, 1758

Thissparrow-sizedbird has the typical short-tailed, large-headed kingfisher profile; it has blue upperparts, orange underparts and a long bill. It feeds mainly on fish, caught by diving, and has special visual adaptations to enable it to see prey under water. The glossy white eggs are laid in a nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.

Taxonomy

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The common kingfisher was first described byCarl Linnaeusin the10th editionof hisSystema Naturaein 1758 asGracula atthis.[2][3][4]The modern binomial name derives from theLatinalcedo,'kingfisher' (fromGreekἀλκυών,halcyon), andAtthis,a beautiful young woman ofLesbos,and favourite ofSappho.[5]

The genusAlcedocomprises seven small kingfishers that all eat fish as part of their diet. The common kingfisher's closest relative is thecerulean kingfisherthat has white underparts and is found in parts of Indonesia.[6][7]

Description

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This species has the typical short-tailed, dumpy-bodied, large-headed, and long-billed kingfisher shape. The adult male of the westernEuropeansubspecies,A. a. ispidahas green-blue upperparts with pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base. The legs and feet are bright red.[7]It is about16 cm (6+1⁄2in) long with a wingspan of 25 cm (10 in),[7]and weighs34–46 g (1+3⁄16–1+5⁄8oz).[8]The female is identical in appearance to the male except that her lowermandibleis orange-red with a black tip. The juvenile is similar to the adult, but with duller and greener upperparts and paler underparts. Its bill is black, and the legs are also initially black.[7]Feathers are moulted gradually between July and November with the main flight feathers taking 90–100 days to moult and regrow. Some that moult late may suspend their moult during cold winter weather.[citation needed]

The flight of the kingfisher is fast, direct and usually low over water. The short, rounded wings whirr rapidly, and a bird flying away shows an electric-blue "flash" down its back.[8]

In North Africa, Europe andAsianorth of theHimalayas,this is the only small blue kingfisher. In south and southeast Asia, it can be confused with six other small blue-and-rufous kingfishers, but the rufous ear patches distinguish it from all but juvenileblue-eared kingfishers;details of the head pattern may be necessary to differentiate the two species where both occur.[7]

The common kingfisher has no song. The flight call is a short, sharp whistlecheerepeated two or three times. Anxious birds emit a harsh,shrit-it-itand nestlings call for food with a churring noise.[7]

Geographical variation

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There are seven subspecies differing in the hue of the upperparts and the intensity of the rufous colour of the underparts; size varies across the subspecies by up to 10%. The races resident south of theWallace Linehave the bluest upperparts and partly blue ear-patches.[7][9]

  • A. a. ispidaLinnaeus, 1758.Breeds fromIreland,Spainand southernNorwaytoRomaniaand westernRussiaand winters south toIraqand southernPortugal.
  • A. a. atthis.Breeds from northwestern Africa and southernItalyeast toAfghanistan,Kashmir region,northernXin gian g,andSiberia;it is a winter visitor south toIsrael,[10]northeasternSudan,Yemen,OmanandPakistan.Compared toA. a. ispida,it has a greener crown, paler underparts and is slightly larger.
  • A. a. bengalensisGmelin,1788.Breeds in southern and eastern Asia fromIndiatoIndonesia,China,Korea,Japanand easternMongolia;winters south to Indonesia and thePhilippines.It is smaller and brighter than the European races.
  • A. a. taprobanaKleinschmidt,1894.Resident breeder inSri Lankaand southern India. Its upperparts are bright blue, not green-blue; it is the same size asA. a. bengalensis.
  • A. a. floresianaSharpe,1892.Resident breeder from Bali to Timor. LikeA. a. taprobana,but the blues are darker and the ear-patch is rufous with a few blue feathers.
  • A. a. hispidoidesLesson,1837.Resident breeder fromSulawesitoNew Guineaand the islands of the westernPacific Ocean.Plumage colours are deeper than inA. a. floresiana,the blue on the hind neck and rump is purple-tinged and the ear-patch is blue.
  • A. a. solomonensisRothschildandHartert,1905.Resident breeder in theSolomon Islandseast toSan Cristobal.The largest southeast Asian subspecies, it has a blue ear-patch and is more purple-tinged thanA. a. hispidoides,with which it interbreeds.

Habitat and distribution

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The common kingfisher is widely distributed over Europe, Asia, and North Africa, mainly south of 60°N. It is a common breeding species over much of its vast Eurasian range, but in North Africa it is mainly a winter visitor, although it is a scarce breeding resident in coastalMoroccoandTunisia.In temperate regions, this kingfisher inhabits clear, slow-flowing streams and rivers, and lakes with well-vegetated banks. It frequents scrubs and bushes with overhanging branches close to shallow open water in which it hunts. In winter it is more coastal, often feeding in estuaries or harbours and along rocky seashores. Tropical populations are found by slow-flowing rivers, inmangrovecreeks and in swamps.[7]

Common kingfishers are important members of ecosystems and good indicators of freshwater community health. The highest densities of breeding birds are found in habitats with clear water, which permits optimal prey visibility, and trees or shrubs on the banks. These habitats have also the highest quality of water, so the presence of this bird confirms the standard of the water.[11]Measures to improve water flow can disrupt this habitat, and in particular, the replacement of natural banks by artificial confinement greatly reduces the populations of fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles, and waterside birds are lost.[12]It can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, provided the water remains clean.[citation needed]

This species is resident in areas where the climate is mild year-round, but mustmigrateafter breeding from regions with prolonged freezing conditions in winter. Most birds winter within the southern parts of the breeding range, but smaller numbers cross theMediterraneaninto Africa or travel over the mountains ofMalaysiainto Southeast Asia. Kingfishers migrate mainly at night, and some Siberian breeders must travel at least 3,000 km (1,900 mi) between the breeding sites and the wintering areas.[7]

Behaviour

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Breeding

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Volunteers in theFlemish Regionof Belgium create a vertical bank in which common kingfishers have subsequently nested annually
Eggs ofAlcedo atthis,MHNT

Like all kingfishers, the common kingfisher is highly territorial; since it must eat around 60% of its body weight each day, it is essential to have control of a suitable stretch of river. It is solitary for most of the year, roosting alone in heavy cover. If another kingfisher enters its territory, both birds display from perches, and fights may occur, in which a bird will grab the other's beak and try to hold it underwater. Pairs form in the autumn but each bird retains a separate territory, generally at least1 km (1⁄2mi) long, but up to3.5 km (2+1⁄4mi) and territories are not merged until the spring.[7]

The courtship is initiated by the male chasing the female while calling continually, and later by ritual feeding, with copulation usually following.[8]

The nest is in a burrow excavated by both birds of the pair in a low vertical riverbank, or sometimes a quarry or other cutting. The straight, gently inclining burrow is normally 60–90 cm (25–35 in) long and ends in an enlarged chamber.[8]The nest cavity is unlined but soon accumulates a litter of fish remains and castpellets.[13]

The common kingfisher typically lays two to ten glossy white eggs, which average1.9 cm (3⁄4in) in breadth,2.2 cm (7⁄8in) in length, and weigh about4.3 g (5⁄32oz), of which 5% is shell.[5]Both sexes incubate by day, but only the female incubates at night. An incubating bird sits trance-like, facing the tunnel; it invariably casts a pellet, breaking it up with the bill. The eggs hatch in 19–20 days, one or two eggs in most clutches fail to do so because the parent cannot cover them prior. Thealtricialyoung are in the nest for a further 24–25 days, often more.[7]Once large enough, young birds will come to the burrow entrance to be fed.[13]Two broods, sometimes three, may be reared in a season.[8]

Survival

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The early days for fledged juveniles are more hazardous; during its first dives into the water, about four days after leaving the nest, a fledgling may become waterlogged and drown.[7]Many young will not have learned to fish by the time they are driven out of their parents' territory, and only about half survive more than a week or two. Most kingfishers die of cold or lack of food, and a severe winter can kill a high percentage of the birds. Summer floods can destroy nests or make fishing difficult, resulting in starvation of the brood. Only a quarter of the young survive to breed the following year, but this is enough to maintain the population. Likewise, only a quarter of adult birds survive from one breeding season to the next. Very few birds live longer than one breeding season.[14]The oldest bird on record was 21 years.[15]

Other causes of death are cats, rats, collisions with vehicles and windows, and human disturbance of nesting birds, including riverbank works with heavy machinery. Since kingfishers are high up in the food chain, they are vulnerable to build-up of chemicals, and river pollution by industrial and agricultural products excludes the birds from many stretches of otherwise suitable rivers that would be habitats.[14]

This species was killed in Victorian times for stuffing and display in glass cases and use in hat making. English naturalistWilliam Yarrellalso reported the country practice of killing a kingfisher and hanging it from a thread in the belief that it would swing to predict the direction in which the wind would blow.[16]Persecution by anglers and to provide feathers for fishing flies were common in earlier decades,[13]but are now largely a thing of the past.[14]

Feeding

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Male passing fish to female in spring courtship ritual
Male fishing in Italy'sPo River

The common kingfisher hunts from a perch 1–2 m (3–7 ft) above the water, on a branch, post or riverbank, bill pointing down as it searches for prey. It bobs its head when food is detected to gauge the distance and plunges steeply down to seize its prey usually no deeper than 25 cm (10 in) below the surface. The wings are opened underwater and the open eyes are protected by the transparentthird eyelid.The bird rises beak-first from the surface and flies back to its perch. At the perch the fish is adjusted until it is held near its tail and beaten against the perch several times. Once dead, the fish is positioned lengthways and swallowed head-first. A few times each day, a small greyish pellet of fish bones and other indigestible remains is regurgitated.[7]

The food is mainly fish up to 12.5 cm (5 in) long, but the average size is2.3 cm (7⁄8in).[7]In Central Europe, 97% of the diet was found to be composed of fish ranging in size from 2 to 10 cm with an average of 6.5 cm (body mass range from <0.1 g to >10 g, average 3 g).[17][18]Minnows,sticklebacks,smallroachandtroutare typical prey. About 60% of food items are fish, but this kingfisher also catches aquatic insects such asdragonflylarvaeandwater beetles,and, in winter, crustaceans including freshwater shrimps.[7]Amphibians such as the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) may also constitute part of the diet of this species.[19]In Central Europe, however, fish represented 99.9% of the diet (data from rivers, streams, and reservoirs from years 1999 to 2013).[17]Common kingfishers have also been observed to catchlamprey.[20]One study found that food provisioning rate increased with brood size, from 1498 g (505 fishes for four nestlings) to 2968 g (894 fishes for eight nestlings). During the fledging period each chick consumed on average 334 g of fish, which resulted in an estimated daily food intake of 37% of the chick's body mass (average over the entire nestling period). The average daily energy intake was 73.5 kJ per chick (i.e., 1837 kJ per 25 days of the fledging period).[21]

A challenge for any diving bird is the change inrefractionbetween air and water. The eyes of many birds have twofoveae(the fovea is the area of theretinawith the greatest density of light receptors),[22]and a kingfisher can switch from the main central fovea to the auxiliary fovea when it enters water; a retinal streak of high receptor density which connects the two foveae allows the image to swing temporally as the bird drops onto the prey.[23]The egg-shapedlensof the eye points towards the auxiliary fovea, enabling the bird to maintainvisual acuityunderwater.[22]Because of the positions of the foveae, the kingfisher hasmonocular visionin air, andbinocular visionin water. The underwater vision is not as a sharp as in air, but the ability to judge the distance of moving prey is more important than the sharpness of the image.[23]

Eachcone cellof a bird's retina contains an oil droplet that may containcarotenoidpigments. These droplets enhance color vision and reduce glare. Aquatic kingfishers have high numbers of red pigments in their oil droplets; the reason red droplets predominate is not understood, but the droplets may help with the glare or the dispersion of light from particulate matter in the water.[23]

Status

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This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2(3,900,000 sq mi). It has a large population, including an estimated 160,000–320,000 individuals in Europe alone. Global population trends have not been quantified, but populations appear to be stable so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of theIUCN Red List(i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as "least concern".[24][5]

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References

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  1. ^BirdLife International (2016)."Alcedo atthis".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016:e.T22683027A89575948.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22683027A89575948.en.Retrieved19 November2021.
  2. ^Linnaeus, C(1758).Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata(in Latin). Vol. 1. Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p. 109.
  3. ^Note: What is now the subspeciesA. a. ispidais described on p. 115 asAlcedo ispida.
  4. ^Peters, James Lee,ed. (1945).Check-list of Birds of the World.Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 171.
  5. ^abc"KingfisherAlcedo atthis(Linnaeus, 1758) ".Bird facts.British Trust for Ornithology.Retrieved21 August2008.
  6. ^Moyle, R.G.; Fuchs, J.; Pasquet, E.; Marks, B.D. (2007). "Feeding behavior, toe count, and the phylogenetic relationships among alcedinine kingfishers (Alcedininae)".Journal of Avian Biology.38(3): 317–326.doi:10.1111/J.2007.0908-8857.03921.x.
  7. ^abcdefghijklmnoFry, C. Hilary; Fry, Kathie; Harris, Alan (1999).Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers.London: Christopher Helm. pp. 219–221.ISBN978-0-7136-5206-2.
  8. ^abcdeSnow, David; Perrins, Christopher M., eds. (1998).The Birds of the Western Palearctic(concise ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-854099-1.
  9. ^Gill, Frank;Donsker, David, eds. (2017)."Rollers, ground rollers & kingfishers".World Bird List Version 7.2.International Ornithologists' Union.Retrieved17 May2017.
  10. ^Arnold, Paula:Birds of Israel,(1962), Shalit Publishers Ltd., Haifa, Israel. p. 12
  11. ^Peris, S. J.; Rodriguez, R. (1996). "Some factors related to distribution by breeding Kingfisher (Alcedo atthisL.) ".Ekologia Polska.54(1–2): 31–38.
  12. ^Lin, Wen-Loung; Tsai, Hsien-Hsiu; Wu, Hsuan-Ju (2007)."Effect of ditch living thing by process of original structure replacement by RC irrigation ditch"(PDF).Journal of Chinese Soil and Water Conservation(in Chinese).38(1): 31–42.
  13. ^abcCoward, Thomas Alfred (1930).The Birds of the British Isles and Their Eggs (two volumes).Vol. 1 (Third ed.). Frederick Warne.
  14. ^abc"Survival and threats".Kingfisher.Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.Retrieved23 August2008.
  15. ^"Longevity list of birds ringed in Europe".Kingfisher.EURING.Retrieved23 August2008.
  16. ^Cocker, Mark; Mabey, Richard (2005).Birds Britannica.London: Chatto & Windus. p. 300.ISBN978-0-7011-6907-7.
  17. ^abČech, M. & Čech, P. (2015)."Non-fish prey in the diet of an exclusive fish-eater: the common kingfisherAlcedo atthis".Bird Study.62(4): 457–465.doi:10.1080/00063657.2015.1073679.S2CID85632259.
  18. ^Čech, M. & Čech, P. (2013). "The role of floods in the lives of fish-eating birds: predator loss or benefit?".Hydrobiologia.717:203–211.doi:10.1007/s10750-013-1625-3.S2CID16257345.
  19. ^Davies, Nigel; Allain, Steven J. R. (2023)."Smooth newtsLissotriton vulgarisas more than just occasional items in the diet of the Eurasian kingfisherAlcedo atthis".Herpetological Bulletin.164(164): 43.doi:10.33256/hb164.43.
  20. ^Čech, Martin (2017). "Lamprey (Lampetrasp.) in the diet of common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) ".Bulletin Lampetra.8:44–47.
  21. ^Čech, M. & Čech, P. (2017). "Effect of brood size on food provisioning rate in Common KingfisherAlcedo atthis".Ardea.105(1): 5–17.doi:10.5253/arde.v105i1.a3.S2CID90362897.
  22. ^abSinclair, Sandra (1985).How Animals See: Other Visions of Our World.Beckenham, Kent: Croom Helm.ISBN978-0-7099-3336-6.
  23. ^abcSchwab, I. R.; Hart N. S. (May 2004)."Halcyon days".British Journal of Ophthalmology.88(5): 613.doi:10.1136/bjo.2004.045492.PMC1772125.PMID15129670.
  24. ^BirdLife International (2016)."Alcedo atthis".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016:e.T22683027A89575948.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22683027A89575948.en.

Further reading

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  • Cramp, Stanley,ed. (1985). "Alcedo atthisKingfisher ".Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic.Vol. IV:Terns to Woodpeckers.Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 711–723.ISBN0-19-857507-6.OCLC13791970.
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