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.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

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) [XC719221]
by Marc Anderson from Ebekawopa (Abrafo)--\, Ghana (call)

African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ispidina picta) [XC425601]
by Peter Boesman from Tujering, Gambia (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

More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the African Pygmy-kingfisher see... Show Articles

BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Articles about the African Pygmy-kingfisher

If you would like to read any articles about the African Pygmy-kingfisher...

Show Articles (0)

No Pictures of African Pygmy-kingfisher

If Birdpedia has no pictures of African Pygmy-kingfisher or you would like to see more, then try the following...

Show External Images from BING

From BING (10)

No Videos of African Pygmy-kingfisher

If Birdpedia has no videos of African Pygmy-kingfisher or you would like to see more, then try the following..

Show External Videos

From BING (0)