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Megaceryle torquata

(Linnaeus, 1776)

Ringed Kingfisher

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105138
Element CodeABNXD01010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderCoraciiformes
FamilyAlcedinidae
GenusMegaceryle
Synonyms
Ceryle torquata(Linnaeus, 1776)Ceryle torquatus(Linnaeus, 1776)Megaceryle torquatus(Linnaeus, 1776)
Other Common Names
Martim-Pescador-Grande (PT) Martin-pêcheur à ventre roux (FR) Martín Pescador de Collar, Martín Pescador Grande (ES)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Megaceryle was formerly (AOU 1993, 1998) treated as a subgenus of Ceryle Boie, but is returned to earlier generic status (AOU 1957) on the basis of evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (Moyle 2006). Includes 3 weakly differentiated subspecies, torquatus, stictipennis, and stellata.
Conservation Status
Review Date2007-09-12
Change Date1996-12-02
Range Extent Comments
RESIDENT: from southern Sinaloa, Nuevo Leon, and southern Texas south through most of South America (migratory in southern South America); also in the Lesser Antilles. Occasionally wanders northward to central Texas in northern fall and winter (AOU 1983). To 1100 m in Honduras, 1300 m in Panama, and 1500 m in Guatemala, but uncommon much above 500 m (Fry and Fry 1992). See Fry and Fry (1992) for descriptions of the ranges of the 3 weakly differentiated subspecies.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Lakes, rivers, streams, lagoons, and coastal regions (AOU 1983). Wide slow-flowing rivers, lowland lakes, marshes, estuaries, brackish coastal lagoons, mangroves, and sometimes open beaches; also sometimes ricefields, reservoirs, canals, water gardens in cities, and Chilean fiords (Fry and Fry 1992). In Colombia and Bolivia, frequents primarily open habitat along the edges of lakes and streams (Remson 1990). BREEDING: Nests in a horizontal burrow dug in a steep earth or sand bank usually along a river but occasionally in erosion gullies and road cuts well away from water.

Ecology

Basically solitary.

Reproduction

Known egg laying months: about March in Texas, about January in Tamaulipas, April-May in Belize, about March-May in Panama, February and June in Suriname, April in Trinidad, August in Guyana, and about November in southern Chile (Fry and Fry 1992). Clutch size 3-6 (commonly 4-5). Incubation 22 days or more, by both sexes in turn. Young tended by both parents, leave nest at 33-38 days when able to fly strongly. Generally nests solitarily, but "colonies" of several to 150 pairs have been reported from the Orinoco River, Venezuela (Fry and Fry 1992).
Palustrine Habitats
HERBACEOUS WETLANDRiparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN3
ProvinceRankNative
TexasS3BYes
Roadless Areas (1)
Arizona (1)
AreaForestAcres
PinalenoCoronado National Forest130,920
References (27)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1957. The AOU check-list of North American birds, 5th ed. Port City Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD. 691 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  3. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  4. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 2004. Forty-fifth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 121(3):985-995.
  5. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 2007. Forty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 124(3):1109-1115.
  6. Bent, A.C. 1940. Life histories of North American cuckoos, goatsuckers, hummingbirds, and their allies. Part I. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 176. 244 pp.
  7. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  8. Braun, M. J., D. W. Finch, M. B. Robbins, and B. K. Schmidt. 2000. A field checklist of the birds of Guyana. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  9. Cornwell, G. W. 1963. Observation on the breeding biology and behavior of a nesting population of belted kingfishers. Condor 65:426-431.
  10. Dickinson, E.C. (Editor). 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 1039 pp.
  11. Forshaw, J. M., and W. T. Cooper. 1983. Kingfishers and related birds. Vol. 1. Alcedinidae, Ceryle to Cittura. Landsdowne Editions, Sydney.
  12. Fry, C. H., and K. Fry. 1992. Kingfishers, bee-eaters & rollers: a handbook. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 324 pp. [344 pp.?]
  13. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  14. Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
  15. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  16. Moyle, R. G. 2006. A molecular phylogeny of kingfishers (Alcedinidae) with insights into early biogeographic history. Auk 123:487-499.
  17. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  18. Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
  19. Remson, J. V. 1990. Community ecology of neotropical kingfishers. Univ. California Publ. Zool. 124.
  20. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  21. Ridgely, R. S. and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
  22. Salyer, J. C., II, and K. F. Lagler. 1946. The eastern belted kingfisher, MEGACERYLE ALCYON ALCYON (Linneaus), in relation to fish management. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 76:97-117.
  23. Sibley, C.G., and B.L. Monroe, Jr. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. xxiv + 1111 pp.
  24. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  25. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  26. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  27. Zook, J. L. 2002. Distribution maps of the birds of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Unpublished.