Subspecies Ceyx azureus azureus (Latham, 1801)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Alcedo azurea Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [32] [based on the Azure Kingsfisher in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (372), doubtfully based in turn on Thomas Watling drawing no. 79 in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (123); Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII; cf. Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 1 pp. 1–112 pls 325–336 [4 Mar. 1918] (90)].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, possibly figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 79 in BMNH), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as insula Norfolk Maris Pacifici).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 1 pp. 1-112 pls 325-336. [Date published 4 Mar. 1918] [86] (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Hellmayr, C.E. 1916. Weiteres zur avifauna von Timor. Novitates Zoologicae 23: 96–111).
• Alcedo tribrachys Shaw, G. in Shaw, G. & Nodder, F.P. (ill.) 1805. The Naturalist's Miscellany; or coloured figures of natural objects drawn and described immediately from nature. London : Nodder Vol. XVI pls 637-684. [text to pl. 681] [type material not traced: not cited among specimens ex Leverian Museum in NHMW by von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54 and Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105–124, nor in LIVCM by Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.; holotype figured on pl. 681 in protologue].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost), New South Wales, probably region of Port Jackson (as Australasia).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
• Ceyx cyanea Lesson, R.P. 1830. Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux. Paris : F.G. Levrault livr. 4, 241-320 15 pls. [publication dated 1831] [241] [not a junior secondary homonym of Alcedo cyanea Forster, 1791 (=Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1873)), nor Alcedo cyanea Vieillot, 1818 (=Megaceryle torquata (Linnaeus, 1766)) under ICZN Art. 59 (c); based on untraced material collected on the Baudin expedition (1801–1803) and recorded incorrectly as coming from Timor per R. Maugé de Cely, see Hellmayr, C.E. 1916. Weiteres zur avifauna von Timor. Novitates Zoologicae 23: 96–111; if Maugé was involved in the collecting, Tasmania is the most likely type locality according to the itinerary of the expedition before Maugé's death, see Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (58–69)—nevertheless, the conventional type locality of New South Wales, which the Baudin expedition also visited at Sydney, is kept here for two reasons: (1) locality and collector as cited in the protologue are not definitive, and (2) the subspecific identity of the type has not been established otherwise; type probably in MNHP—but not cited by Pucheran, J. 1853. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. 6—Passereux syndactyles. Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 5: 385–393].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP (Institution uncertain), New South Wales (as Timor (Maugé)).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (cf. Hellmayr, C.E. 1916. Weiteres zur avifauna von Timor. Novitates Zoologicae 23: 96–111; Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 1 pp. 1–112 pls 325–336 [4 Mar. 1918] [90]).
• Alcedo tridactyla Lesson, R.P. 1830. Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux. Paris : F.G. Levrault livr. 4, 241-320 15 pls. [publication dated 1831] [241] [evidently in error for Alcedo tribrachys Shaw, 1805, and treated here as an unjustified emendation of that name; published in synonymy of Ceyx cyanea Lesson, 1830 (q.v.), and unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(d) & (e)].
• Alcyone australis Swainson, W. 1837. On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. In, Lardner, D. (ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor Vol. 2(92) vi 398 pp. [publication dated 1836-1837 Kluge, A.G. 1971. John Edward Gray and "The Zoological Miscellany". In Gray, J.E. (1831–1844). The Zoological Miscellany. [reprint]. U.S.A. Misc. Publ. of Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.] [336] [nom. nov. for Alcedo azurea Latham, 1802 by reference to pl. 26 in Swainson, W. 1823. Zoological Illustrations; or Original Figures and Descriptions of new, rare, or interesting Animals, selected chiefly from the classes of Ornithology, Entomology, and Conchology, and arranged on the principles of Cuvier and other modern zoologists.. London : Baldwin, Cradock & Joy Vol. 1 ix 75 pp., pls 1–66, Vol. 2–63 pp., pl. 67, Vol. 3 x 71 pp. [published between 1820-1823]].
• Alcyone azurea victoriae Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [285].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 636824 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5119), Frankston, VIC (as Victoria)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306.

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp. [145].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1976. Infra-specific variation in Alcedo azurea Latham (Alcedinidae). The Emu 76: 161-166 [164]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal E Australia, north to about Endeavour River and main offshore islands in QLD, south to S VIC, and inland to or just across watershed of Great Dividing Range in north and to upper Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, middle Murray and Glenelg Rivers in S NSW, VIC—formerly to Mt Lofty Range, SA (?isolate) where now extinct—records from SW Australia not confirmed. Intergrades with A. a. ruficollaris (Bankier, 1841) on central E coast of Cape York Peninsula north from Endeavour River to around Princess Charlotte Bay, QLD.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, NE coastal
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, estuary, lentic freshwater, littoral, lotic freshwater, mangrove, nomadic, open forest, piscivore, piscivore, resident, swamp, tall forest, territorial, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, arthropod-feeder on sheltered waterways, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds by diving from vantage perches low over water, nests in tunnels in banks beside water, both sexes share nidificational duties.

General References

Clancy, G. 1980. Azure Kingfisher Display. Australian Birds 14: 56 (behaviour)

Keast, D. 1977. Unusual sightings of Azure Kingfisher. Corella 1: 80-81 (distribution)

Marshall, A.J. 1931. The Azure Kingfisher. The Emu 31: 44-47 (feeding, habitat, nidification and nesting behaviour)

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1976. Infra-specific variation in Alcedo azurea Latham (Alcedinidae). The Emu 76: 161-166 (plumages, age classes, distribution, taxonomy)

History of changes