Halcyon chelicuti
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The striped kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) is a species of bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily. It was first described by Edward, Lord Stanley, in Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia in 1814 as "Chelicut kingfisher" Alaudo Chelicuti.
The genus name Halcyon comes from a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the halcyon nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. The species' name chelicuti derives from Chelicut in Ethiopia, the location at which Stanley's type specimen was obtained.
This is a highly territorial bird which will chase off not only others of the same species, but also shrikes, doves and rollers. The territory may be up to three hectares (7.4 acres) in size, and hold 100 tall trees. It is surveyed from a treetop by its owner, who sings from before dawn intermittently until after midday.
The holotype of Alaudo chelicuti Stanley (Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, 1814, App. IV. p.lvi. (=56)) is held in the vertebrate zoology collection of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number NML-VZ D2304b. The specimen was collected in Abyssinia = Ethiopia in 1809/10... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 6 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 7 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Kingfisher sighting in Serrekunda on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 126th most-seen of the 213 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Kingfisher in Serrekunda on a given day, against under 5% in April to October, the lowest months. Those are among Serrekunda's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain a month against 290 mm in August.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Striped Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Striped Kingfisher sightings, Serrekunda ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 30%), Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania, about 30%) and Maputo (Mozambique, about 10%).
Same genus: Halcyon
The closest relatives of the Striped Kingfisher that you can see in Serrekunda (genus Halcyon, Typical Woodland Kingfishers) are Blue-breasted Kingfisher (about 30%) and Woodland Kingfisher (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Striped Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Serrekunda (39 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.
