Thursday, December 10, 2015

Wild Bird Wednesday: Forest Kingfisher

The Forest Kingfisher has a dark royal blue head with pale turquoise on the back.There is a large white spot over the bill. The underparts are white.The male has a white collar which the female lacks. In flight there is a prominent white wing patch.
There is a broad black eyestrip extending from the bill to the eye coverts. The tail is royal blue above and below is black to dusky grey. The long, straight bill is black and the lower mandible ('jaw'), which is long and upturned, has a pinkish contrasting strip along the bottom. The eyes are dark brown. The legs and feet are dark brown or dark grey.The eastern race incinctus has a greener back with a smaller white wingspot.


The Forest Kingfisher is essentially a tropical and subtropical kingfisher. I spotted this one on power lines above a narrow country road in the New South Wales Tweed Valley.



The Forest Kingfisher is also known as Macleay's, Blue or Bush Kingfisher.

(**Information from Birds In Backyards**)


Linking with these memes:

            

10 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Cool sighting of the Kingfisher! Great shots, enjoy your day!

Brian King said...

What a gorgeous bird! Beautiful photos!

Helen said...

I love spotting these birds, but they never stay still enough for me to get photographs.

CountryMouse said...

Gorgeous! We have these pretty fellows up here along with another type. I used to have one come and sit on the back fence all the time but it hasn't been to visit in a long time. Great captures.

Michael S-B said...

Beautiful pictures, Liz. He's a rather attractive bird :)

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I loved this Kingfisher post. Great photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Sunday, enjoy your new week!

Marco Luijken said...

Hello Liz,
What a great pictures.
So amazing how you've photograph this beautiful bird. Very well done!!

Many greetings,
Marco

Bob Bushell said...

Beautiful Kingfisher images, great Liz.

TexWisGirl said...

wow, he's beautiful! love those iridescent colors!

Christian Perrin said...

For my money, this is the prettiest of the bush kingfishers in Australia... but I've never got a photo as good as these! :)

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