Blue-eared Kingfisher

Meninting Kingfisher (Alcedo Meninting )

The Meninting Kingfisher (Alcedo Meninting ) is an Asian kingfisher.

Features

The 17 cm long and 18 g heavy Meninting Kingfisher sees the European kingfisher very similar, but the blue top and orange bottom are intensely stained. In addition, the adult bird the ear covers are blue instead of orange.

Occurrence

Of up to ten subspecies are six generally recognized:

• Alcedo m. Meninting lives on Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Banggai, the Sula Islands and probably on Sulawesi, Nias and the Sulu Islands.
• Alcedo m. verreauxii comes on the Malay Peninsula south of the 10th degree of latitude, in Borneo, Palawan, Bangka, the Sulu Islands, the Pagi Islands, the Belitung Islands and the Riau Archipelago off
• Alcedo m. scintillans lives in Burma and Thailand between the 10th and 16th degree of latitude.
• Alcedo m. phillipsi occurs in Sri Lanka and parts of Kerala.
• Alcedo m. rufigaster living on the Andaman Islands.
• The distribution area of Alcedo m. coltarti ranges from Indochina to Nepal and the eastern India.

The bird lives in rivers and ponds in dense evergreen forests.

Behavior

The Meninting Kingfisher is a solitary and shy bird who hunts from a stand hunting by water. It feeds on fish, crustaceans and insects which it catches in flight.

Reproduction

The nesting hole is dug in a vertical sand bank and consists of a 55-60 cm long tunnel with a 5 cm diameter, ending in a 10-12 cm high and 12-14 cm wide chamber.