Black-capped Kingfisher

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Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Black-capped Kingfisher

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 7 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Black-capped Kingfisher

The map shades 19 countries with regular records, and 3 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Japan, Mongolia, Pakistan.

About the Black-capped Kingfisher

The black-capped kingfisher is a tree kingfisher which is widely distributed in tropical Asia from India east to China, Korea and Southeast Asia. This most northerly of the tree kingfishers is resident over much of its range, but northern populations are migratory, wintering south of their range in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Borneo and Java. It is distinctive in having a black cap that contrasts with the whitish throat, purple-blue wings and the coral red bill. The species is mainly found in coastal and mangrove habitats but can sometimes be found far inland.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Grey-headed KingfisherHalcyon leucocephalaThe sexes are similar. Blue-breasted KingfisherHalcyon malimbicaThe blue-breasted kingfisher is a tree kingfisher widely distributed across Equatorial Africa. Ruddy KingfisherHalcyon coromandaReaching approximately 25 cm, the ruddy kingfisher has a very large, bright red bill and equally red legs.

Side by side: Black-capped Kingfisher vs Woodland Kingfisher · Black-capped Kingfisher vs Striped Kingfisher · Black-capped Kingfisher vs Grey-headed Kingfisher · Black-capped Kingfisher vs Ruddy Kingfisher