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) [XC690412]
by Peter Boesman from Farasuto Forest, Gambia, Gambia (call, duet)

African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) [XC421455]
by Peter Boesman from Wassadou, Tambacounda, Senegal (call)

Subspecies
Sometimes placed in Corythornis or Ispidina. Closely related to African 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

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BirdLife International

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