American pygmy kingfisher
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Chloroceryle-aenea-001, crop.jpg
| image_caption = Male C. aenea stictoptera in Panama
| image2 = American Pygmy Kingfisher (49734985776), crop.jpg
| image2_caption = Female C. aenea stictoptera in Costa Rica
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Chloroceryle
| species = aenea
| authority = (Pallas, 1764)
| synonyms_ref =
| synonyms = *Alcedo aenea {{small|Pallas, 1764}}
- Alcedo superciliosa {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}}
| range_map = Chloroceryle aenea map.svg
| range_map_caption = {{legend0|green| resident range}}
}}
File:Pygmy kingfisher sleeping (03434).jpg
The American pygmy kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America into every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. It also occurs on Trinidad.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/rollers/ |title=Rollers, ground rollers, kingfishers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 12.2 |editor-last1=Gill |editor-first1= F. |editor-last2=Donsker|editor-first2=D.|editor-last3=Rasmussen |editor-first3=P. |date=August 2022 |access-date=13 December 2022 }}HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved 13 December 2022Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved 24 July 2022
Taxonomy and systematics
The first formal description of the American pygmy kingfisher was by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 under the binomial name Alcedo aenea.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=170 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480181 }}{{cite journal | last=Sherborn | first=C. Davies | year=1905 | title=The new species of birds in Vroeg's catalogue, 1764 | journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections | volume=47 | pages=332–341 [333 No 54]| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8812107 }} The specific epithet aenea is from the Latin aeneus meaning "of a bronze colour".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n33 33] }} The current genus Chloroceryle was erected by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848.{{cite journal | last=Kaup | first=Johann Jakob | author-link=Johann Jakob Kaup | year=1848 | title=Die Familie der Eisvögel (Alcedidae) | journal=Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins für das Großherzogthum Hessen und Umgebung | volume=2 | page=68 | oclc=183221382 | language=German }}
A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2006 found that the American pygmy kingfisher was a sister species to a clade containing the green-and-rufous kingfisher (C. inda) and the green kingfisher (C. americana).{{cite journal| last=Moyle |first= Robert G| year=2006 | title=A molecular phylogeny of kingfishers (Alcedinidae) with insights into early biogeographic history | journal=Auk | volume=123 | issue=2 | pages=487–499 | doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[487:AMPOKA]2.0.CO;2|hdl= 1808/16596|s2cid= 84824051| url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/16596/1/MoyleR_Auk_123%282%29487.pdf | hdl-access=free }}
Two subspecies are currently recognized, the nominate C. a. aenea (Pallas, 1764) and C. a. stictoptera (Ridgway, 1884).
Description
The American pygmy kingfisher is about {{convert|13|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Males weigh {{convert|10|to|16|g|oz|abbr=on}} and females {{convert|12|to|16|g|oz|abbr=on}}. It has the typical kingfisher shape, with a shaggy crest and long heavy bill. The bill is black with some pale yellow at the base of the mandible and its legs and feet are pinkish to light gray. Males of the nominate subspecies have a dark glossy green head and upperparts with a golden wash separated by a narrow rufous collar. Their tail is a bluer green. They have black lores with a thin rufous line in front of the eye. Their chin, throat, and most of their underparts are rufous that is deeper on the breast and flanks. The center of their breast and their undertail coverts are white. Adult females are similar with the addition of a dark green band across their upper breast. Juveniles have paler underparts than adults and buffy spots on their wings; males have green-black streaks on their breast and females' breast band is often incomplete. Subspecies C. a. stictoptera has obvious lines of white spots on their secondaries and some white on the rump.Woodall, P. F. (2020). American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ampkin1.01 retrieved December 13, 2022 The two forms intergrade in central Costa Rica.{{cite book | last1=Fry | first1=C. Hilary| last2=Fry | first2=Kathie| last3=Harris | first3=Alan | year=1992 | title=Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers| publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London |pages=224–225| isbn=978-0-7136-8028-7 }}
Distribution and habitat
Subspecies C. a. stictoptera of American pygmy kingfisher is the more northerly of the two. It is found from the southern Mexican states of Puebla, Veracruz, Yucatán, and Chiapas south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua to central Costa Rica. The nominate subspecies is found from central Costa Rica (where it overlaps stictoptera) through Panama into Colombia. From there it occurs west of the Andes to central Ecuador and east and south into Venezuela, the Guianas, and most of Amazonian Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. Its range extends slightly into Paraguay and Argentina and also includes Trinidad.
The American pygmy kingfisher inhabits dense forest, where it occurs along small streams and rivers, beside pools, in swamps, and along tidal channels in mangroves. It shuns open landscapes. In elevation it ranges from sea level to {{convert|2600|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Behavior
=Movement=
=Feeding=
The American pygmy kingfisher hunts from a low perch from which it dives into water for its prey. Its diet includes small fish such as those of families Characidae and Cyprinodontidae, tadpoles and frogs, and large insects such as damselflies. It has been reported but not confirmed that it catches insects on the wing.
=Breeding=
The American pygmy kingfisher's breeding season varies geographically, apparently from January in Mexico to as late as September in Trinidad. Both members of a pair excavate a burrow in a river bank, road cutting, gravel pit, arboreal termitarium, or the root ball of a fallen tree. it is typically {{convert|30|to|40|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and has a nest chamber at the end. The clutch size is three or four eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Chloroceryle-aenea |species=American pygmy kingfisher}}
=Vocalization=
Status
The IUCN has assessed the American pygmy kingfisher as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range. Its estimated population of at least a half million mature individuals is, however, believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book | last = ffrench | first = Richard
| title = A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago | edition = 2nd | year = 1991
| publisher = Comstock Publishing | isbn = 0-8014-9792-2 | location =Boston }}
- {{cite book | last = Hilty | first = Steven L. | title = Birds of Venezuela | year = 2003
| publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 0-7136-6418-5 }}
- {{cite book | last = Stiles | first = F. Gary |author2=Skutch, Alexander F. | title = A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica | year = 1990 | publisher = Comstock Publishing | location = Ithaca, N.Y | isbn = 0-8014-9600-4 }}
External links
{{Commons category|Chloroceryle aenea}}
{{Wikispecies|Chloroceryle aenea}}
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20001206113500/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/8909300.htm Stamps]}} (for El Salvador) with RangeMap
- [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=american+pygmy+kingfisher&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 American pygmy kingfisher photo gallery] VIREO
{{Cerylinae}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q588267}}
Category:Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
Category:Birds of Central America
Category:Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula
Category:Birds of South America
Category:Birds of the Amazon rainforest
Category:Birds of the Guiana Shield