Pelargopsis capensis
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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 →
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Stork-billed Kingfisher sighting in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, based on 2,115 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 231 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May and October–December
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Stork-billed Kingfisher in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, against about 60% in August, the lowest month.
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.
2nd of 33
Of the 33 parks where we can rate Stork-billed Kingfisher sightings, Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary ranks 2nd at about 70%. The best odds are in Tanjung Puting National Park (Indonesia, about 80%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Alcedinidae
The closest relatives of the Stork-billed Kingfisher that you can see in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (family Alcedinidae, Kingfishers) are Blue-eared Kingfisher (about 70%), Collared Kingfisher (about 20%) and Black-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher (about 20%), 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 Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (2,115 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
