The Mewing Kingfisher or Mangaia Kingfisher (Todiramphus ruficollaris), known locally as the Tanga‘eo, is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Alcedinidae, or Kingfisher family. It is endemic to Mangaia

Mangaia

Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...

 in the Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s and plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

s.

Description

The Mewing Kingfisher is 22 cm in length, with a large head and large black bill. Similar to some other Todiramphus kingfishers, it has blue-green upper-parts, with a yellow-orange collar and head-band, and a blue-green cap. The under-parts are white.

Conservation

It is threatened by habitat loss and by disturbance by introduced Common Myna

Common Myna

The Common Myna or Indian Myna also sometimes spelled Mynah, is a member of family Sturnidae native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the Myna has adapted extremely well to urban environments...

s at its nesting hollows. The Taporoporo'anga Ipukarea Society

Taporoporo'anga Ipukarea Society

The Taporoporo'anga Ipukarea Society is an environmental non-government organisation based in the Cook Islands of Polynesia in the south-western Pacific Ocean. An approximate translation of the name from Cook Islands Māori is "looking after our heritage"...

, BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

's partner organisation in the Cook Islands, has proposed a program to eradicate the mynas from Mangaia.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet.