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Yellow-billed Kingfisher
(Syma torotoro)
: "White-tailed Kingfisher", "Racquet-tailed Kingfisher"
Size: 18-21 cm; wing span 28-30 cm
Weight: 30-52 g
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
Yellow-billed Kingfishers are relatively small kingfishers.
The head, apart from a black fringe under each eye, is
orange-rufous, with an erectile crest.
The two sexes look similar, with only one noticeable
difference -
Males
have an orange-rufous cap, while the cap of
females
is dark-grey.
Both sexes have a dark-grey spot at the nape of the neck.
The front is cream-buff to pale orange-rufous, with the
darkest hues down the sides/flanks, while the chin,
belly, vent and undertail coverts are lightest.
In direct comparison one can see that the front of
females
is slightly paler than the front of
males.
The back is olive-grey, with turquoise on the leading edge
of the folded wings, a turquoise/blue rump and a blue-grey
uppertail.
The irises are dark. The bill is yellow, with a dark ridge
near the tip of the upper mandible. The legs and feet are
orange.
Juveniles
have slightly duller colours than
adults
and initially a dark-grey bill with a lighter grey base.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See
Yellow-billed Kingfisher at Wikipedia  .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
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The global distribution of the Yellow-billed Kingfisher is available
HERE
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There are three extant races of Yellow-billed Kingfishers, which
are a sedentary species found only on New Guinea, associated
smaller islands and in far north-eastern Australia.
Race "torotoro" is found on the West Papuan islands, in lowland
New Guinea and on Aru Island.
Race "ocracea" is endemic to D’Entrecasteaux Island, while race
"flavirostris"
breeds only on far north-eastern Australia.
In Australia, only Yellow-billed Kingfishers, race
"flavirostris",
are found. They are endemic breeders that populate only the
northern tip of Cape York peninsula, to about the latitude of
Cape Melville, QLD.
Yellow-billed Kingfishers have a preference for tropical low-land
rainforest,
monsoon forest
and along
forest edges.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
M. Eaton reports finding a Yellow-billed Kingfisher, race
"flavirostris",
at Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, in August 2019.
All sighting and photographic information presented on this page
has been kindly contributed by M. Eaton.
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Photos |
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Race "flavirostris"
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ADULT |
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MALE |
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Frontal view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher; note the
orange-rufous cap
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
Frontal view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher; note the
orange-rufous cap
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
Frontal view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
Lateral view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
Near-dorsal view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
Near-dorsal/ventral view of a male Yellow-billed Kingfisher
with its crest erected
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Iron Range NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, August 2019]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors.
The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
