Pelargopsis capensis
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis), is a tree kingfisher which is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia. These kingfishers are large and have a heavy bill. The head is brown and the chin is paler coloured. The sexes are similar in coloration. This is found mostly in streams and ponds in lowland areas with tree cover. This kingfisher is sendentary throughout its range.
The first formal description of the stork-billed kingfisher was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae. He coined the binomial name Alcedo capensis. Linnaeus based his description on Mathurin Jacques Brisson's "Le martin-pescheur du Cap de Bonne Espérance". Brisson believed his specimen had come from the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa. The species does not occur in Africa and it was suggested that the specimen had been obtained on the Indonesian island of Java. The specimen is now known to have come from near Chandannagar in West Bengal, India. Linnaeus's specific epithet capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope. The current genus Pelargopsis was introduced... Wikipedia →
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Stork-billed Kingfisher sighting in Kolkata on a given day, based on 2,018 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 33rd most-seen of the 247 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to August
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Stork-billed Kingfisher in Kolkata on a given day, against about 10% in October to January, the lowest months. Those are among Kolkata's wettest months, with about 250 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in December.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Stork-billed Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
8th of 28
Of the 28 cities where we can rate Stork-billed Kingfisher sightings, Kolkata ranks 8th at about 20%. The best odds are in Tamluk (India, about 40%), Savar (Bangladesh, about 30%) and Ponnani (India, about 30%).
Same family: Alcedinidae
The closest relatives of the Stork-billed Kingfisher that you can see in Kolkata (family Alcedinidae, Kingfishers) are White-throated Kingfisher (about 60%) and Common Kingfisher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Stork-billed Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Kolkata (2,018 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
