Bird Guide

Brown-hooded Kingfisher vs Grey-headed Kingfisher

Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris)

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Halcyon albiventris

Medium65 gShrubland

The brown-hooded kingfisher is about 22 cm (8.7 in) long. The head is brown, with blackish streaks. There is a broad buffy collar above the brownish-black mantle. The wing coverts are mostly brownish-black, and the secondary flight feathers are turquoise. The rump is azure-blue. The chin is white, the breast is tawny with some dark streaks, and the belly is buffy. The beak is red, tipped brown, the legs are carmine, and the eyes are dark brown. The female has dark brown upperparts, and its underparts are more streaked than the male.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkeats/ · CC BY 2.0
Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala)

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Halcyon leucocephala

Small42 gShrubland

The sexes are similar. The adult of the nominate race H. l. leucocephala has a pale grey head, black mantle and back, bright blue rump, wings and tail, and chestnut underparts. Subspecies H. l. pallidiventris has a darker grey head and paler chestnut underparts but is otherwise similar. The beak is long, red and sharp. This bird grows to an average length of 21 cm (8.3 in). The song is a succession of notes, ascending, descending and then ascending again, becoming increasingly strident. The warning call is a series of sharp notes, "tchk, tchk, tchk, tchk".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Brown-hooded Kingfisher and Grey-headed Kingfisher.