Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher
Encyclopedia
The Vanuatu Kingfisher or Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher (Todiramphus farquhari) is a medium-sized kingfisher
found only on the islands of Espiritu Santo
, Malo
and Malakula
in Vanuatu
.
It is dark blue above with richly-coloured orange underparts. There is a white spot in front of the eye and a broad black band on the side of the head. It has a white throat and collar. It measures 19-21cm in length and weighs 32-42 grams. The call is a series of loud, shrill, piping notes. The only other kingfisher in Vanuatu is the Collared Kingfisher
which has paler blue-green upperparts, whiter underparts and a buff stripe above the eye.
The Vanuatu Kingfisher mainly eats insects, especially beetles, and will also take spiders and small lizards. It usually hunts by perching on a branch and waiting for prey to appear. When it spots something it flies into the air or dives down to the ground or a tree trunk to catch it.
The nest is sometimes built in a hole in a palm tree or tree fern but usually a pair will excavate a burrow in a termite
mound in a tree. They dig with their large bill and clear out material with their feet. After about fifteen days the burrow is completed and the termites seal off their sections. Three or four white eggs are laid. The breeding season is mostly from November to February with eggs laid in December.
The birds mainly inhabit dense rainforest
in the interior of the islands, particularly above 200m. They are thought to be declining due to loss and degradation of the forest.
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
found only on the islands of Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
, Malo
Malo Island
Malo is an island in Vanuatu, off the southern coast of the larger Espiritu Santo in Sanma Province. It has a circumference of and an area of . In 1979 the island had a population of 2,312. In 1999, the population numbered about 3000...
and Malakula
Malakula
Malakula Island , also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, in the Pacific Ocean region of Melanesia...
in Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
.
It is dark blue above with richly-coloured orange underparts. There is a white spot in front of the eye and a broad black band on the side of the head. It has a white throat and collar. It measures 19-21cm in length and weighs 32-42 grams. The call is a series of loud, shrill, piping notes. The only other kingfisher in Vanuatu is the Collared Kingfisher
Collared Kingfisher
The Collared Kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the family Halcyonidae, the tree kingfishers. It is also known as the White-collared Kingfisher or Mangrove Kingfisher. It has a wide range extending from the Red Sea across southern Asia and Australasia to Polynesia...
which has paler blue-green upperparts, whiter underparts and a buff stripe above the eye.
The Vanuatu Kingfisher mainly eats insects, especially beetles, and will also take spiders and small lizards. It usually hunts by perching on a branch and waiting for prey to appear. When it spots something it flies into the air or dives down to the ground or a tree trunk to catch it.
The nest is sometimes built in a hole in a palm tree or tree fern but usually a pair will excavate a burrow in a termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
mound in a tree. They dig with their large bill and clear out material with their feet. After about fifteen days the burrow is completed and the termites seal off their sections. Three or four white eggs are laid. The breeding season is mostly from November to February with eggs laid in December.
The birds mainly inhabit dense rainforest
Vanuatu rain forests
The Vanuatu rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that includes the islands of Vanuatu, as well as the Santa Cruz Islands group of the neighboring Solomon Islands. It is part of the Australasia ecozone, which includes neighboring New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, as well as Australia, New...
in the interior of the islands, particularly above 200m. They are thought to be declining due to loss and degradation of the forest.