#actenoides excelsus

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Actenoides

Spotted Kingfisher by “Doing Big Year”, CC BY 2.0

Etymology: Resembling Brightness

First Described By: Bonaparte, 1850

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Afroaves, Coraciimorphae, Cavitaves, Eucavitaves, Picocoraciae, Picodynastornithes, Coraciiformes, Alcedini, Alcedinidae, Halcyoninae

Referred Species: A. monachus (Blue-Headed or Green-Backed Kingfisher), A. capucinus (Black-Headed Kingfisher; may be a subspecies of the Blue-Headed Kingfisher), A. princeps (Scaly-Breasted Kingfisher), A. regalis (Plain-Backed Kingfisher; may be a subspecies of the Scaly-Breasted Kingfisher), A. bougainvillei (Bougainville Moustached Kingfisher or Moustached Kingfisher), A. excelsus (Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher; may be a subspecies of the Moustached Kingfisher), A. lindsayi (Spotted Kingfisher or Spotted Wood Kingfisher), A. hombroni (Blue-Capped Kingfisher or Hombron’s Kingfisher), A. concretus (Rufous-Collared Kingfisher)

Status: Extant, Endangered - Least concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

Actenoides lives in a variety of places in Southeast Asia and Oceania, especially on specific Indonesian islands, as well as the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Malaysia, and Thailand 

Physical Description: Actenoides is a genus of Kingfisher, a group of tree-dwelling birds with an extremely distinctive body plan. Kingfishers have squat bodies and huge heads, with even larger beaks - their long, triangular beaks allow them to eat a wide variety of food items, including, of course, fish, but also insects and small animals. Actenoides is no exception to this unique, distinctive body plan. They are heavy-looking kingfishers, with squat bodies and bright, varied coloration. Most species in this genus have brightly colored heads for display and species recognition, and more dull colored bodies; though they aren’t dull to look at, with spotting and stripes and all other distinctive patterning. Some species in the genus break this pattern, and have brightly colored wings and tails instead. This species ranges from 23 to 32 centimeters in length, making it range from the length of an American Robin to the length of a Common Rock Pigeon.

Diet: Actenoides, despite being a Kingfisher, actually mainly eats land-based animals, especially insects, large centipedes, and small lizards and frogs. Some species will occasionally feed on fish, but it’s rare. 

Rufous-Collared Kingfisher by Francesco Veronesi, CC BY-SA 2.0

Behavior: These birds are arboreal, browsing amongst trees for sources of food. They’re a loud group of birds, making barking, loud calls to one another - most species make a “ko, ko, ko” call; others, a warbling pitched whistle; and still others, a ki-ki-ki-ki call instead. These noisy birds fill up their environments with their calls. They breed mainly from February through May, though some species breed earlier or later depending on their habitat. They then go on to excavate nest-burrows - some species in the ground, others in trees. Typically they lay between two and four eggs per clutch, and are very secretive in guarding their eggs - making it rather difficult to know much more about their nesting behavior. However, at least one species has a nestling period after hatching of three weeks. These birds do not migrate, but instead remain in the habitat of their birth for their whole lives.

Ecosystem: All species in this genus live in forested environments, especially mountain and swamp forest; the specific kind of forest depends on the species, with some preferring old-growth forest and others close-canopy forest. Rainforests are also a common habitat lived in by this genus, as well as evergreen forest.

Other: Most species in this genus are threatened with extinction in some capacity, mostly due to having restricted ranges and, thus, easily susceptible to habitat destruction. Some species have less than 1000 individuals left in their populations, but conservation efforts are ongoing. For isolated island species, the introduction of mammal predators such as house cats have played a huge toll on their populations.  

In addition, the taxonomy of this group is a mess; without more knowledge of species differences, it’s difficult to say, but there are at least a few populations that might be their own species, or might be subspecies instead. More research on this elusive breed of Kingfishers is needed to better understand their differences. 

Blue-Headed Kingfisher by Ariefrahman, CC BY-SA 3.0

Species Differences:

For the purposes of this guide, I will be treating each grouping as a separate species.

The Blue-Headed Kingfisher, also known as the Green-Backed Kingfisher, is found in Sulawesi. The males and females are roughly identical in their bodies - they have dark reddish-orange chests and bellies and dark blue-green backs and wings, with a brighter green tail. The males, however, have entirely blue heads, while the females have that same dark reddish-orange as patches over the eye and cheek.

The Bougainville Moustached Kingfisher, or just Moustached Kingfisher, hails mainly from the Northern Solomon islands. It is primarily yellow in color, with bright blue wings and tail. It also has a blue stripe across its chin, leading to its name, and a bright blue stripe going back form its eyes. The females differ from the males in being smaller, and having green feathers on their back instead of blue, but they still have blue wings and tails.

The Blue-Capped Kingfisher, or Hombron’s Kingfisher, lives primarily in the Southeastern islands of the Philippines. The males are cerulean blue, with little yellow specks on their wings and back and yellow bellies. They have bright blue caps and a little stripe on their chin, also colored blue. The females are smaller and have teal heads, with olive green backs and spots, though there is some aqua blue under the wings on the back. Their tails are also olive green. 

Scaly-Breasted Kingfisher by A. S. Kono, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Scaly-Breasted Kingfisher lives mainly in Sulawesi. They have black and white chests, with the black forming wavy stripes across the belly and chest - hence the name. They have brown backs and tails with lighter brown spots in rows across the back. Their heads are a dark blue, while the females have yellow stripes above and below the eyes.

The Rufous-Collared Kingfisher lives mainly in southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia. Both males and females have reddish-orange chests and green tops to their heads, as wells as black stripes over their eyes and blue stripes across their cheeks. The males are bright blue on the back, while the females are olive green, with little yellow spots going across the back. The females have slightly longer tails than the males.

The Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher is similar to the Moustached Kingfisher, but its moustache and eye stripes are black, rather than blue. Their backs are also black, and their wings are dark indigo, while their tails are bright blue. They live in the Southern Solomon Islands. 

Moustached Kingfisher by J. G. Keulemans, in the Public Domain

The Spotted Kingfisher, or Spotted Wood Kingfisher, is mainly from the Philippines. These are highly patterned birds, with rows of spots all over their bodies. They have dark olive wings, backs, and tails; with yellow spots in rows over their wings and backs. They have white bellies with that same dark green as spots in rows down their chests and bellies. THe head of the male has a reddish-orange base, with a blue stripe across the chin; and then a black stripe, a light blue stripe, and a green stripe on the top of the head. There are faint yellow stripes all over their heads. The females have alternating green, lime, and black stripes instead, with similar yellow spots. One subspecies has alternating blue and black stripes instead, with no yellow spots.

The Plain-Backed Kingfisher lives in Sulawesi, primarily in the southeastern regions. They have yellowish chests and bellies, and a band of that yellow coloring around the neck. They have brown backs, wings, and tails, with yellow stripes across the wings. They have yellow and black stripes on their cheeks and across the eye, and dark cerulean tops of their heads. These birds do not differ based on sex.

Finally, the Black-Headed Kingfisher is known from Sulawesi, from nearly the entire range of the island. They have olive green wings, backs, and tails; and orange chests and bellies. The males have entirely black heads, while the females have black backs and tops of their heads and a black stripe across their eyes, with dark orange cheeks and foreheads. In fact, this gives the females an appearance like spectacled humans with Elvis-like hair.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the cut 

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. 2019. Black-headed Kingfisher (Actenoides capucinus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N., Kirwan, G.M. & Sharpe, C.J. 2019. Guadalcanal Moustached Kingfisher (Actenoides excelsus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. 2019. Plain-backed Kingfisher (Actenoides regalis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.  

Woodall, P.F. & Sharpe, C.J. 2019. Blue-capped Kingfisher (Actenoides hombroni). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Woodall, P.F. & Kirwan, G.M. 2019. Blue-headed Kingfisher (Actenoides monachus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Woodall, P.F. & Kirwan, G.M. 2019. Bougainville Moustached Kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Woodall, P.F. 2019. Rufous-collared Kingfisher (Actenoides concretus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Woodall, P.F. & Kirwan, G.M. 2019. Scaly-breasted Kingfisher (Actenoides princeps). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Woodall, P.F. 2019. Spotted Kingfisher (Actenoides lindsayi). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.