There are debates and discussions on blue-eared kingfisher vs common kingfisher. The blue-eared kingfisher, scientific name Alcedo meninting, belongs to the family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds, Alcedinidae. In this article, I am going to discuss Blue Eared Kingfisher vs Common Kingfisher.
Blue Eared Kingfisher vs Common Kingfisher
At the outset, we will discuss blue-eared kingfisher
Blue Eared Kingfisher
These kingfisher species are distributed in India, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
The blue-eared kingfisher species are river kingfishers. There are six acknowledged subspecies of those kingfishers.
The general plumage of Blue-eared kingfisher is bluish on the upperparts and rufous on the underparts. The crown, nape, and face are vibrant ultramarines.
The crown is intently banded with darker ultramarine striations. There’s a rufous frontal spot in males.
On each of the edges of the neck, there’s a white blaze. Their distinguishing characteristic is bluish ear stripe. The chin and throat are whitish.
The blue-eared kingfisher is similar to the common kingfisher. The distinguishing attribute is the ear stripe. The ear stripe is bluish within the former whereas it’s rufous within the latter.
In Blue-eared kingfisher, the crown and upperparts are colored darker and richer ultramarine and the underparts are darker reddish-brown.
The grownup males have the darkish bill with a white tip and the females have a reddish decrease mandible. The irises are black. The ft are reddish in color. Their name is a single excessive pitched “trreee-tee” sound.
These Blue-eared kingfisher species are distributed in India, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
The blue-eared kingfisher subspecies A. m. coltarti is distributed in foothills of Himalayas from central Nepal to Assam in India, eastern India alongside the northern Eastern Ghats, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
The subspecies A. m. Phillips is distributed in southwestern India, alongside the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. The subspecies A. m. scintillansris is distributed in southern Myanmar and southern Thailand.
The blue-eared kingfisher subspecies A. m. meninting is distributed in the Indonesian islands, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Banggai, and Sula.
The subspecies A. m. verreauxii is distributed in southern Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Riau Archipelago, Bangka, Belitung, and Borneo), and the Philippines (Palawan and Sulu Islands). The subspecies A. m. rufigastra is distributed in the Andaman Islands.
Ecosystem and habitat
These Blue-eared kingfisher species have low forest dependency. They inhabit numerous synthetic and pure ecosystems with proximity to water.
The blue-eared kingfishers inhabit plantations close to pure or artificial water canals and rural and in addition city gardens and parks with water our bodies.
These Blue-eared kingfisher species are present in tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, tropical and subtropical mangrove forests, tropical and subtropical wetlands, wetlands with rivers, streams, or creeks, and shallow marine estuaries. These blue-eared kingfishers happen in altitudes from zero to 1000 meters.
Food
The eating regimen of those kingfisher species is usually fish. Small fish, crustaceans, dragonfly nymphs, and aquatic bugs are the first meals.
They’ve been noticed to prey on grasshoppers and mantis. The kingfisher perches on a department of a tree overhanging densely shaded gradual transferring stream or river.
On finding its prey, it dives into the water. After catching the prey, it flies again to its perch. After battering the prey on the department to demise, the kingfisher swallows it headfirst.
Reproduction and breeding habits
The breeding season of those Blue-eared kingfisher species is from April to August in northern India, with a peak interval in May and June.
The breeding season is from April to July in Myanmar. Their nest is a meter lengthy tunnel excavated within the financial institution of a stream. The clutch has about 5 to 7 white spherical eggs.
Migration and motion patterns
These Blue-eared kingfisher species are non-migratory, sedentary, and resident birds.
Conservation and survival
The worldwide inhabitant’s measurement of the Blue-eared kingfisher (Alcedo meninting) isn’t quantified.
The general inhabitant’s measurement of those species is taken into account to be on the decline.
All through its ranges, the kingfisher is reported to be common however seldom widespread. The technology size is 4.Four years.
The blue-eared kingfisher, Alcedo meninting doesn’t strategy the thresholds for being Weak both beneath the vary measurement criterion or beneath the inhabitant’s development criterion or beneath the inhabitant’s measurement criterion. Riverine habitat loss is the primary menace that will endanger the survival of those species.
IUCN and CITES standing
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has categorized and evaluated the kingfisher species and has listed it as of “Least Concern”.
CITES (the Conference on International Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) standing is ‘Not Evaluated’ for the blue-eared kingfisher (Alcedo meninting).
Common kingfisher
The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) belongs to the household of river kingfishers, Alcedinidae.
These species of kingfishers are distributed in the Indian subcontinent, North Africa, Europe, Center East, Central, and East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
These common kingfisher species are brightly plumaged and have a compact physique, quick tails, massive heads, and lengthy payments. There are seven acknowledged subspecies of the common kingfisher.
Look, bodily description and identification
The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is a small hen, measuring 25 to 35 cm in size and weighing 30 to 45 grams. The wingspan is 25 cm.
The feminine is barely bigger than the male. It’s a typical brightly plumaged river kingfisher with a massive head, quick tail, compact physique, and lengthy bill.
The feminine differs from the male in having an orange-red decrease mandible with a black tip. The black invoice in males is reddish on the base.
The common kingfisher upper parts are greenish-blue and the again and the rump is pale sky-blue. The invoice base and ear area have rufous patches.
The throat and the nape have a whitish patch. There’s a greenish-blue neck strip. The breast, stomach, and remainder of the underparts are rufous. The kingfisher’s name is a pointy whistle and repeated “chee” sound.
Origin, geographical vary, and distribution
The common kingfisher is distributed in the Indian subcontinent, North Africa, Europe, Center East, Central, and East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
The subspecies A. a. salomonensis is distributed on Nissan Island, Solomon Island, Buka Island, and Bougainville Island. The subspecies A. a. hispidoides is distributed in Sulawesi Island, Moluccas Island, and Papua New Guinea.
The common kingfisher subspecies A. a. floresiana is distributed in Bali, Sundas, and Timor. The subspecies A. a. taprobana is distributed in South India and Sri Lanka.
The common kingfisher subspecies A. a. bengalensis is distributed in India, China, Siberia, Mongolia, and Japan. It winters in Indonesia and the Philippines.
The common kingfisher subspecies A. a. atthis is distributed in Northwest Africa, Spain, Europe, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Northwest India, Siberia and China. It winters in Egypt, Sudan, Oman, and Pakistan.
The common kingfisher subspecies A. a. ispida is distributed in Western Europe, Russia, and Romania. It winters in Portugal, North Africa, Cyprus, and Iraq.
A number of Vital Fowl and Biodiversity Areas (IBA) of common kingfisher species exist in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Ukraine.
Ecosystem and habitat
The common kingfisher species have very low forest dependency. They inhabit numerous ecosystems having open stagnant or gradual flowing water sources with overhanging timber.
They inhabit water canals, drainage canals, ditches, open aquatic excavations, aquatic ponds, aquaculture ponds, water storage lakes and ponds, city parks with water sources, and rural gardens.
The common kingfisher species additionally inhabit close to pure water sources like rocky shoreline with perches, tide swimming pools, estuaries, tropical and subtropical wetlands, swamps, peatlands, mangroves, flooded grasslands, freshwater lakes, rivers, waterfalls, streams, and creeks.
Food plan and feeding habits
The diet of those kingfisher species is usually fish. It additionally feeds on aquatic bugs, flies, dragonfly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, butterflies, moths, frogs, tadpoles, crayfish, water beetles, prawns, and shrimps.
It has been noticed to feed often on berries and stems of reeds. It eats almost 60% of its physique weight every day.
The common kingfisher hunts from a perch, one to 3 meters above the water. On finding the prey, it plunges steeply down and seizes the prey with its beak.
Then it emerges from the water with the prey and flies to the perch. By altering the place of the prey within the beak, the kingfisher holds the prey by the tail and beats it a number of instances in opposition to the perch earlier than swallowing it head-first.
Reproduction and breeding habits
The breeding season of those kingfisher species varies enormously contemplating the extraordinarily massive vary.
The breeding season of those species is principally from, March to June in northern and central India, February to September in southern India, January to February in Malaysia, March to July in Britain, and March to August in Japan.
The male kingfisher establishes territory with a show from perches and chases away opponents.
Pairing varieties in autumn and in spring courtship is initiated by the male by chasing and ritual feeding of the feminine which culminates in mating. These kingfisher species are monogamous.
The kingfisher nest is a barely inclining burrow excavated by the pair. Two to 10 shiny white eggs are laid.
Each the mother and father take flip to incubate within the day and the feminine incubates within the evening.
The eggs hatch in 20 days and the nestlings are fed by each mother and father. Two to 3 broods could also be raised in a season.
Migration and motion patterns
These common kingfisher species are largely migratory birds. The southern populations are residents.
The northern breeding populations in Europe, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, North Korea, South Korea, and Mongolia transfer southwards for wintering.
Submit breeding dispersal of juveniles takes place. The common kingfisher could make native actions for feeding and breeding.
Conservation standing and considerations
The worldwide inhabitant’s measurement of the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is estimated to be around 780,000 to 1,340,000 particular person birds.
The general inhabitant’s measurement isn’t recognized and in Europe, it’s thought of to be slowly lowering.
In most of its ranges, this kingfisher species is reported to be common and plentiful. Their technology size is 4.Four years.
The common kingfisher doesn’t strategy the thresholds for being Weak both beneath the varied measurement criterion or beneath the inhabitant’s development criterion or beneath the inhabitant’s measurement criterion.
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has categorized and evaluated the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) and has listed it as of “Least Concern”.
I hope this article on Blue Eared Kingfisher vs Common Kingfisher was handy to you.
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