Within the Pronojiwo space of East Java, there’s an unassuming disguise on the fringe of a village. It hosts two species of kingfishers.
One is the Blue-eared Kingfisher, a kingfisher with a quite wide selection overlaying giant areas of South-East Asia and India.
Unexpectedly – given the colours of this species – eBird appears a bit underwhelmed: “A diminutive darkish blue kingfisher with no rufous on the ear-patch”.
To my shock, studying about it, I discovered it’s smaller than the Frequent Kingfisher – I assume its extra intense colours made me assume it should be bigger. In my protection, the chicken flew away after I took out my tape measure to measure it.
One paper provides a outstanding breeding success of 80% – it additionally has some enticing photographs for these fascinated by seeing very younger kingfisher chicks, and people having fun with kingfisher pornography.
The scientific identify Alcedo meninting is just not notably attention-grabbing – meninting is simply the Javanese identify for this kingfisher, became the scientific identify by Horsfield, who appears to have named lots of species on this space.
The invoice of the male is generally black whereas that of the feminine has extra purple or is even completely purple. Homework: Please decide the intercourse of all Blue-eared Kingfishers proven right here.
The second is the Javan Kingfisher, much more of a stunner than the primary and one of many principal causes for me to return to Java within the first place.
eBird additionally will get a bit extra enthusiastic about this species: a “giant kingfisher with an enormous lipstick-red invoice” (cue my ordinary Robert Smith reference right here).
It’s endemic to Java and Bali -while categorized as Least Concern, its vary appears to be contracting (supply: Cornell).
The scientific identify Halcyon cyanoventris signifies that the species has a darkish blue stomach – a strong selection for a reputation.
Javan Kingfishers appear pretty eclectic of their meals selection. One paper checked out what nestlings are being fed – the highest 4 entries had been freshwater crabs, two species of frog, three species of cicada, and Kuhl’s Flying Gecko. The paper has good photographs of the kingfishers carrying every of these things.
The paper additionally describes how the mother and father attempt to lure the nestlings out of the nest tunnel by approaching the doorway with prey gadgets however not coming into – till finally, the nestlings come out. I’ve tried related issues to get kittens out of their hiding locations.
One attention-grabbing facet of the paper is the thank-you word, which appears to point that the villagers have taken up the duty of defending the birds: “The primary writer may be very grateful to … [the] villagers for his or her sturdy dedication to guard the birds as set out of their Village Regulation.”
Lastly, must you ever have a robust urge to see a mixture of two Javan Kingfishers and an Emily Dickinson poem (you may simply guess which one), try this web site of the Affiliation of Avian Veterinarians. Perhaps you can too ship them an e-mail and inform them the way to appropriately spell the poet’s final identify.
