Black-backed kingfisher, Ceyx erithaca (formerly, Ceyx erithacus; protonym, Alcedo erithaca), also known as the Black-backed kingfisher, Malay (forest) kingfisher, Oriental (dwarf) kingfisher, rufous-backed kingfisher (rufidorsa) or red-backed forest kingfisher (rufidorsa), and the (Indian) three-toed (forest) kingfisher, photographed in Thailand.
Image: Marie-Louise Ng, 11 June 2011 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Nikon D3S
Question: This Thailand mystery bird has the reputation for being one of the most beautifully colourful birds alive in the world today. Can you identify this species?
Response: This is an immature black-backed kingfisher, Ceyx erithaca. These diminutive birds have an extremely large range throughout lowland rain forests of southeast Asia. However, they are shy and easily overlooked.
Ceyx is the genus where the Old World river kingfishers are placed -- although three of the eight Ceyx species occur in Africa and for this reason, are sometimes separated into their own genus, Ispidina. Ceyx comes from a Greek legend, which I explain here.
This very brief video captures the backside of an individual sitting near a small stream in the rain forest. It gives you an idea of the behaviour of this sit-and-wait species:
Here's a video of an injured individual that was successfully rehabbed at Kasetsart University Raptor Rehabilitation Unit and released. I share this video mainly to give you an idea of how astonishingly tiny this species is:
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative international audience here at The Guardian, feel free to contact me to learn more.
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