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Australian Wildlife

  Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii)





Forest Kingfisher | Todiramphus macleayii photo
Territory Wildlife Park.

Image by Stephen Barnett - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Forest Kingfisher | Todiramphus macleayii photo
Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii)

Image by frank wouters - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Forest Kingfisher | Todiramphus macleayii photo
Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) at Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia.

Image by Peter Shanks - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







FOREST KINGFISHER FACTS

Description
The Forest Kingfisher has a dark royal blue head with pale turquoise on the back. There is a large white spot over the bill. The underparts are white. The male has a white collar. The female has blue on back of neck.

Size
20 cm

Habitat
open sclerophyll forest, margins of swamps and billabongs, mangroves, farmlands and beaches.

Food
insects, spiders, small lizards, frogs and worms

Breeding
nests are in tree cavities, banks or roots of fallen trees, and often in termite nests in trees. Lays 3-6 eggs.

Range
from top of NT to northern NSW

distribution map showing range of Todiramphus macleayii in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Notes
How to identify common kingfishers. Little Kingfisher - very small blue kingfisher with small white patch on neck. Azure Kingfisher - orange underparts and violet sheen. Forest kingfisher - turquoise green head and back with white underparts and black legs. Sacred kingfisher - torquoise back with dark head, cream collar and dark eye stripe.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Coraciiformes
Family:Alcedinidae
Genus:Todiramphus
Species:macleayii
Common Name:Forest Kingfisher

Relatives in same Genus
  Collared Kingfisher (T. chloris)
  Red-backed Kingfisher (T. pyrrhopygia)
  Sacred Kingfisher (T. sanctus)