{"id":1432,"date":"2007-06-23T00:02:04","date_gmt":"2007-06-22T16:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/besgroup.talfrynature.com\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2023-06-24T17:46:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T09:46:26","slug":"black-backed-rufous-backed-or-oriental-dwarf-kingfisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2007\/06\/23\/black-backed-rufous-backed-or-oriental-dwarf-kingfisher\/","title":{"rendered":"Black-backed, Rufous-backed or Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher?"},"content":{"rendered":"
In June 2007, Singapore photographers were travelling regularly to Johor, Malaysia to photograph a pair of rare resident kingfishers nesting in the Panti forest. These birds are identified as Rufous-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx rufidorsa<\/em>) (below). However, comparing the images with that in Robson (2005), the birds from Panti show more black on the wings but not as much as in the Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithacus<\/em>). This is also the case in Morten’s (2000) photographic guide.<\/p>\n When shown a couple of the recent images from Johor, Morten commented: “…very dark wings, is that really a Johor bird? darkest resident bird I have ever seen… my pictures from that area have very orange wings…”<\/p>\n The above two guide books treat Rufous-backed and Black-backed as two distinct species. However, Lekagul & Round (1991) in their Birds of Thailand, consider them as a single species. <\/p>\n Now are the birds seen in Panti, Rufour-backed or Black-backed Kingfisher? In other words, are there two distinct species or are the two, variations of a single species? Ornithologists are beginning to agree that there is only one species, with a range of intermediate forms as a result of hybridisation of two subspecies, the black-back and the red-back forms.<\/p>\n