African Pygmy-Kingfisher (Ispidina picta)

Other Scientific Names
Ispidina picta [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]

Other Names (World)
African Pygmy-Kingfisher, Pygmy Kingfisher, Miniature Kingfisher, African Pygmy Kingfisher

Family
Alcedinidae (Kingfishers)

Size
12 - 13 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Boddaert, 1783)

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest, swamp forest.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], C�te dIvoire, Djibouti (B), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia (B), Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Singly or in pairs. Secretive and unobtrusive.

Voice
A high-pitched insect-like 'tsip-tsip' uttered in flight.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (38)...)

African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) [XC444665]
by Ehren Eksteen from Belfast, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa (call)

African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) [XC659597]
by Sun Madakan from University Campus, Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria (ta)

Subspecies
Sometimes placed in Corythornis or Ispidina. Closely related to Dwarf Kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei). Birds of southern Somalia formerly separated as subspecies jubaensis. Identity of birds breeding on Pemba unclear, as both nominate and natalensis have been collected there.

The following 3 subspecies are recognised:

pictus (Boddaert, 1783) - Senegal east to Eritrea, south to Uganda and Pemba (possibly).
ferrugineus (Clancey, 1984) - Guinea-Bissau east to western Uganda, south to central Angola, north-western Zambia and northern Tanzania.
natalensis (Smith, A, 1832) - Southern Angola across to central and eastern Tanzania, including Pemba (possibly) and Zanzibar, and south to eastern Botswana and northern and eastern South Africa; some migration north to eastern Zaire, Uganda and southern Sudan.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for African Pygmy-Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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