Halcyon smyrnensis  Kerala, India 8 (1)🐦

Photo: Manjith Kainickara · CC BY-SA 2.0

SpeciesCoraciiformesAlcedinidae
Birds

🐦White-throated Kingfisher

Halcyon smyrnensis (Linnaeus, 1758)

The white-throated kingfisher also known as the white-breasted kingfisher is a tree kingfisher, widely distributed in Asia from the Sinai east through the Indian subcontinent to China and Indonesia. This kingfisher is a resident over much of its range, although some populations may make short distance movements. It can often be found well away from water where it feeds on a wide range of prey that includes small reptiles, amphibians, crabs, small rodents and even birds. During the breeding season they call loudly in the mornings from prominent perches including the tops of buildings in urban areas or on wires.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
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Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 1/680th of your weight
Also called
White-breasted Kingfisher
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.09 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
5.5 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the White-throated Kingfisher

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.09 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.09 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.08 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.11 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.06 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.01 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
5.5 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Human Modified
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Insessorial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for White-throated Kingfisher yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderCoraciiformes
  5. ›familyAlcedinidae
  6. ›genusHalcyon
  7. ›speciesHalcyon smyrnensis
Full lineage
  1. superclassTetrapoda
  2. orderSauria
  3. classBirds · Aves
  4. genusHalcyon
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. genusHalcyon
More

More about the White-throated Kingfisher

In other languages
白胸翡翠 (zh), alció d'Esmirna (ca), ledňáček hnědohlavý (cs), Smyrnaisfugl (da), Braunliest (de), Halcyon smyrnensis (es) … and 24 more languages
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