Woodland Kingfisher

(H. s. cyanoleuca) Ad: Forehead, crown and hind neck pale brownish grey, feathers broadly tipped pale blue. Supercilium white; lores and narrow ring around eye black, extending as black wedge behind eye. Remainder of head grey. Back and scapulars azure, washed grey; rump and upper tail coverts azure. Upper tail dark azure, feathers with black shafts. Upper wing coverts black; alula and tertials azure. Secondaries with tips and inner webs black; outer webs azure. Primaries black, with proximal halves of outer webs azure; inner webs with proximal white ovals. Primary coverts azure. Chin and throat white, merging into pale grey ear coverts and sides of neck, and very pale, vermiculated grey breast and flanks. Breast with extremely pale green-blue wash. Belly and undertail coverts white. Underwing coverts white; base of underside of primaries white, remainder of remiges black. Undertail black^10,11. Upper mandible red, black near gape and sometimes at tip; lower mandible black, but occasionally partly or entirely red, mainly in subad male^11,14-16. Eyes dark brown. Legs and feet dark brown to black^10,11.

Juv: As ad, but blues duller, breast and flanks coarsely vermiculated dusky and washed yellowish buff. Alula mottled dusky. Duller black around eye; crown sometimes washed pale azure. Bill black. Upper mandible first shows red (near middle) at 3-4 mo. By 7-8 mo, red except for base and tip; fully red by ca 12 mo¹³. Legs dusky red¹¹.

Confusing species: Rare individuals with all-red or almost all-red bills reliably separated from slightly larger Mangrove Kingfisher by black (not reddish) legs, and dark eye patch extending behind eye. Some with aberrant bill colours also have narrow black carpal 'comma' on underwing, suggesting possible hybridisation with Mangrove Kingfisher¹⁶, but this not confirmed. Aberrant birds described in detail elsewhere^14-16. Voice distinctive.

Author:JK Turpie