OzAnimals.com
Australian Wildlife

  Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus)





Sacred Kingfisher | Todiramphus sanctus photo
Sacred Kingfisher in Canberra, Australia.

Image by Duncan McCaskill - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Sacred Kingfisher | Todiramphus sanctus photo
Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) by the road between MacMasters Beach and Kilcare on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia.

Image by Toby Hudson - License: by-saq3.0.    (view image details)







SACRED KINGFISHER FACTS

Description
The Sacred Kingfisher has a turquoise back, turquoise blue rump and tail, buff-white underparts and a broad cream collar. Has black eye stripe. Female is less brightly coloured. Young birds are similar to the female, but with some brown on the collar, wings and underside.

Size
20-22 cm

Habitat
woodlands, mangroves and paperbark forests

Food
crustaceans, reptiles, insects and their larvae

Breeding
nest is a burrow in a termite mound, hollow branch or river bank. Lays 3-6 eggs.

Range
oceans and islands off west and east costs of mainland Australia

distribution map showing range of Todiramphus sanctus 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:sanctus
Common Name:Sacred Kingfisher

Relatives in same Genus
  Collared Kingfisher (T. chloris)
  Forest Kingfisher (T. macleayii)
  Red-backed Kingfisher (T. pyrrhopygia)