Cerylidae - Chloroceryle, Megaceryle, Pied Kingfisher, Belted Kingfisher, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Chloroceryle, Megaceryle, Pied Kingfisher, Belted Kingfisher, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Green-And-Rufous Kingfisher, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, American Green Kingfisher, Water Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Crested Kingfisher. Excerpt: The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a water kingfisher and is found widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Their black and white plumage, crest and the habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish makes it distinctive. Female in GambiaThis kingfisher is about 17cm long and is white with a black mask, a white supercilium and black breast bands. The crest is neat and the upperparts are barred in black. Several subspecies are recognized within the broad distribution. The nominate race is found in sub-Saharan Africa, extending into West Asia. A former subspecies syriaca is considered as merely a larger northern bird of the nominate species (following Bergmann's rule). Subspecies leucomelanura is found from Afghanistan east into India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Laos. The subspecies travancoreensis of the Western Ghats is darker with the white reduced. Subspecies C. r. insignis is found in Hainan and southeastern China and has a much larger bill. Males have a narrow second breast-band while females have a single broken breast band. It is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia from Turkey to India to China. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate, other than short-distance seasonal movements. In India it is distributed mainly on the plains and is replaced in the higher hills of the Himalayas by Megaceryle lugubris. The Pied Kingfisher is estimated to be the world's third most common kingfisher, and is a noisy bird, unmissable within its r... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=249426