Justification This kingfisher is largely restricted to lowland forested rivers and, as such, is suspected to have undergone a rapid and continuing population decline as a result of significant losses in the extent of this habitat throughout its range.

Family/Sub-family Alcedinidae

Species name author Temminck, 1830

Taxonomic source(s) Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Identification 20 cm. Medium-sized river kingfisher. Male has dark blackish upperparts with silvery-azure streak from mantle to rump. Long, white neck-flash with rufous tip. White throat, rest of underparts mostly pale rufous-buff with bold blue band across chest. Female with rich rufous underparts, lacking breast-band. Similar spp. Common Kingfisher A. atthis smaller, greenish-blue above, lacking breast-band. Voice High-pitched squeaks in flight, harsher than A. atthis.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

10,000-19,999

decreasing

1,160,000 km²

No

Range & population Alcedo euryzona ranges from southern Myanmar (Tenasserim), through peninsular Thailand to Malaysia (including Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo), Brunei, Kalimantan, Sumatra and (at least historically) Java (Indonesia). It is generally thinly distributed, being locally fairly common in Peninsular Malaysia and on Borneo, rare in Myanmar and Java (with no recent records), and uncommon in Thailand and Sumatra.

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: It is generally sedentary on rocky or slow-flowing streams and larger rivers running through forest (usually humid evergreen, but also back-mangroves and mixed dipterocarp-dominated forest), most commonly in the lowlands, but ascending locally to at least 1,250 m (820 in Peninsular Malaysia). It is predominantly piscivorous, also consuming crustaceans, insects and small reptiles. Breeding has been recorded from February-June.

Threats Huge areas of lowland forest were removed from the range of this species during the 20th century. For example, rates of forest loss in the Sundaic lowlands have been extremely rapid (Kalimantan lost nearly 25% of its evergreen forest during 1985-1997, and Sumatra lost almost 30% of its 1985 cover), owing to a variety of factors, including the escalation of illegal logging and land conversion, with deliberate targeting of all remaining stands of valuable timber including those inside protected areas, plus forest fires (particularly in 1997-1998). A similar scenario (or indeed worse in the case of Thailand and Java) faces all other range states and islands. Its occupation of hill streams, however, provides some hope that it will survive in this relatively secure habitat.

Conservation measures underway The species has been recorded within various protected areas within its range, including Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra, Gunung Palung and Kutai National Parks, Kalimantan, Similajau National Park, Sarawak, Endau-Rompin and Taman Negara National Parks, Malaysia.

Conservation measures proposed Address the species as a key target during surveys and research its range and ecological requirements. Formulate a management strategy for this species and a suite of other Sundaic birds largely reliant on lowland forest. Lobby for effective management of existing protected areas in the Sundaic region and for the expansion of the protected area network.

References BirdLife International (2001).

Further web sources of information

Fully detailed species accounts from the Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book (BirdLife International 2001), together with new information collated since the publication of the Red Data Book

Text account compilers Phil Benstead (BirdLife International), Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Joe Tobias (BirdLife International)

Contributors Yeap Chin Aik, Geoffrey Davison

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Mike Crosby (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Alcedo euryzona. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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