Pacific kingfisher
The Pacific kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It has a wide range throughout the South Pacific islands, including American Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. It was previously considered a subspecies of the collared kingfisher.
Taxonomy
The Pacific kingfisher was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other kingfishers in the genus Alcedo and coined the binomial name Alcedo sacra. Gmelin based his description on the "sacred kingfisher" that had been described and illustrated in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham noted that the Polynesians revered and protected kingfishers. Latham had access to a specimen in the Leverian Museum in London that had been collected during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean from 1776 to 1780. The type locality was designated as the island of Tongatabu by Alexander Wetmore in 1919. The Pacific kingfisher is now one of 30 species placed in the genus Todiramphus that was introduced in 1827 by René Lesson. The word Todiramphus combines the genus name Todus with the Ancient Greek rhamphos meaning "bill". The specific epithet sacer is Latin meaning "sacred".The Pacific kingfisher was formerly considered as a subspecies of the collared kingfisher. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2015 found that T. chloris was paraphyletic. In the changes to create monophyletic species, T. sacer was promoted to species status and many of the T. chloris subspecies were moved to T. sacer.
Subspecies
There are 22 recognised subspecies:; VanuatuT. s. torresianus – Hiw and LoT. s. santoensis – Banks Islands southwards to Espiritu Santo and MaloT. s. juliae – Aoba and Maewo southwards to EfateT. s. erromangae – Erromango and AnatomT. s. tannensis – Tanna
;Solomon IslandsT. s. pavuvu – PavuvuT. s. mala – MalaitaT. s. solomonis – Makira and adjacent islandsT. s. sororum – Malaupaina and MalaulaloT. s. amoenus – Rennell and BellonaT. s. ornatus – Nendo and TinakulaT. s. brachyurus – Reef IslandsT. s. vicina – Duff IslandsT. s. utupuae – UtupuaT. s. melanodera – Vanikoro
; FijiT. s. vitiensis – Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Viti Levu, Koro, Ovalau and GauT. s. marinus – Lau ArchipelagoT. s. eximius – Kadavu
; PolynesiaT. s. regina – FutunaT. s. pealei – TutuilaT. s. manuae – Ofu-Olosega and TauT. s. sacer – central and southern Tonga
Description
It has a variety of calls which vary geographically. The most typical call is loud, harsh and metallic and is repeated several times. The Pacific kingfisher, a medium-sized tree kingfisher, typically measures around long, with a wingspan of roughly, weighing between, featuring striking blue-green plumage, white underparts, and a distinct orange bill.Distribution and habitat
It is most commonly found in coastal areas, particularly in mangrove swamps. It also inhabits farmland, open woodland, grassland and gardens. It is usually seen further inland than the collared kingfisher, where it was previously considered conspecific, ranging into forest or into mountain areas. Birds often perch conspicuously on wires, rocks or bare branches.On the Pacific islands it is usually common in a variety of coastal and inland habitats with various subspecies present on the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, and American Samoa.