Subspecies Todiramphus (Todiramphus) chloris sordidus (Gould, 1842)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Halcyon sordidus Gould, J. 1842. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, June 14, 1842. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1842: 72 [72] [based on two adults collected by B. Bynoe and figured on pl. 23 in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 2 104 pls pp. [Pt 17, Dec. 1844]; for identification of type material, see Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180 and Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246; lectotypification effected under ICZN Art. 74(a); type locality often restricted to Cape York, QLD, e.g., by Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.], and Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.—but precision justified by available information only to north Australian coast between the Kimberley Division and Cape York Peninsula in view of the routes taken by H.M.S. Beagle when the collector Benjamin Bynoe was its surgeon, see Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (102–107)].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 21416 unsexed adult (Verreaux cat. no. 666), north coast of Australia.
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 21417 unsexed adult (Verreaux cat. no. 667).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913].

  Type locality references:

  Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [364].
• Halcyon sordidus cooktowni Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [289].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 639921 adult ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5867), Cooktown, north QLD
  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.
• Halcyon sordidus melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [38] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 639908 ♂ adult (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 10874), Apsley Strait, Melville Is., NT (as Melville Island)
  Comment: for identification of holotype and type locality, 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.
• Sauropatis chloris hyperpontia Oberholser, H.C. 1919. A revision of the subspecies of the White-collared Kingfisher, Sauropatis chloris (Boddaert). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 55: 351-395 [386].

  Type data:

   Holotype USNM 102000 ♀ subadult (ex Tristram coll.), Cape York, QLD or Australia (as Havannah Harbor, Vaté Island, New Hebrides).

  Type locality references:

  Mayr, E. 1931. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XII Notes on Halcyon chloris and some of its subspecies. American Museum Novitates 469: 1-10 [6]; Peters, J.L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 5 xi 306 pp.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [364] (based on Peters, J.L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 5 xi 306 pp. [207–213])

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Patchy along coast of N Australia, west to Kimberley Division (Broome), east to E coast of Cape York Peninsula south to region of Halifax Bay, but scarce to absent around Gulf of Carpentaria—also main offshore islands including Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Mornington, and islands in Torres Strait.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, estuary, littoral, mangrove, piscivore, sedentary, territorial, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, sedentary in littoral edges of tall, seaward mangroves, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds in pouncing sallies from vantage perches, nests in hollows and arboreal termitaria, both sexes share nidificational duties.

General References

Keast, A. 1957. Variation in the Australian kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae). Records of the Australian Museum 24: 61-72 (distribution, movements)

Mayr, E. 1949. Artbildung und Variation in der Halcyon-chloris-Gruppe. pp. 55–60 in, Ornithologie als biologische Wissenschaft (Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Erwin Stresemann). Heidelberg : Carl Winter. (geographic variation)

Miller, R.S. 1937. The Mangrove Kingfisher. The Emu 36: 149-152 pl. 22 (distribution, movements, habitat, hunting, nidification)

Thompson, H.A.F. 1984. The status of kingfishers and their allies (Coraciiformes) in the Darwin area, N.T., 1974 to 1982. Northern Territory Naturalist 7: 18-29 (distribution, habitat, status)

History of changes