Three-toed kingfisher - the rarest and a beauty

by K.G.H. Munidasa

The three-toed Kingfisher (Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher to some authors) is a beauty among the seven resident kingfishers in Sri Lanka.

According to the Annotated Checklist (1978 Revised Edition) the Three-toed Kingfisher Cexy erithacus erithacus is a scarce breeding resident in all climatic zones of the island thruoghout the lowlands and occasionally in the hills to altitudes of about 3000 feet. Henry in his Guide (1955) page 140 has described this species as a 'brilliant bird of purplish-shot, orange and black plumage, with vermilion beak, much smaller than a sparrow in size.'

In the 'Manual of Birds of Ceylon' Second Edition W.E. Wait states that the Three-toed Kingfisher occurs sparingly in the dry and medium zones in Sri Lanka, and in scattered localities in the Indian Peninsular, also in Lower Bengal, Burma and a greater part of South East Asia.

Closer

Since the early 1950s, I had seen the Three-toed Kingfisher, off and on, in my home garden, but I never attempted to get a closer view of it, nor observe its general behaviour until 1963. In August that year a young kingfisher with a history of having been captured in a garden half a mile from my home was brought to me for identification. The young man who brought the bird said

that he captured the kingfisher when it flew into their sitting room that morning and was fluttering against the wall.

After a close examination of the bird's features and tallying its colouration with that of the colour plate in G.M. Henry's Guide I tentatively identified the bird as a juvenile of the Three-toed Kingfisher, popular among the rural folks as 'Rung Pilihuduwa' I asked the young man to set it free in the same place.

As a member of the Ceylon Wildlife and Nature Protection Society as early as 1952 I got the opportunity to correspond with many an authority in the sphere who were dedicated to systematic studies of birdlife in Sri Lanka like Major W.W.A. Phillips, C.E. Norris, Roy McLeod Cameron, to mention a few.

In course of time, I joined the Ceylon Bird Club in April 1964 in the capacity of a contributing member on the invitation of Secretary of the Club Roy McLeod Cameron. Never before had I tried to keep records of my observations on birds, for any future reference. Yet, from that point onward I could no help maintaining regular notes, a selection of which I sent to the CBC, end of each month, to be incorporated in the monthly notes circularized to the membership by the Club.

Keener

It was not long after the aforesaid incident of the young kingfisher that I began to take a keener interest to observe the Three-toed Kingfisher in the Low-Country Wet Zone.

My next observations of this kingfisher came about in mid-April the following year. That sunny morning during a ramble in the steep hillside (700 ft) above my home garden, I came upon a solitary Three-toed Kingfisher in a low branch, far away from any stream. I watched this fine specimen with binoculars for almost half an hour until it left the perch and disappeared among the thick scrub.

In March at Dikoya in the Wet Hill Zone (elevation 3,600 ft) a club member had reported a pair of Three-toed Kingfisher on a small stream. They were observed flying up and down the stream, and one of them was seen to be carrying food. But when the place was visited eight days later the birds had vanished.

In March 1974, then Chairman/Secretary of the Ceylon Bird Club Thilo W. Hoffmann and a party of members spotted a courting pair of the kingfisher at Dela (on Colombo - Ratnapura highway) as they were passing the place by car. They watched the incredibly beautiful birds for over two hours. "The colours are far brighter and varied than in Henry's plate. The caps are dark plum-purple, the upper back sapphire-blue, the lower back amethyst, rump pinkish, the tail orange yellow and the entire front golden-yellow, edged with orange." If I would quote the firsthand description of the birds as Mr. Hoffmann had recorded in his club-notes for that month.

Moulting

At Inginiyagala a juvenile of the Three-toed Kingfisher, just moulting into adult plumage had floundered into the verandah of an empty house, one morning in April. It was caught by the watcher on duty there and handed over to some member of the CBC happened to be around the place, in a dazed condition.

It was promptly set free when in it recovered. In July that year at Yala in the Ruhuna National Park two club members on a birding tour saw a solitary kingfisher in some low bushes on a river bank. They have recorded that although the bird was rather retiring and seemingly preferred to keep under cover, it was by no means wary of the presence of humans. Several times it allowed the men to approach to within 12 feet, or even as closer as 6 ft. to film it. The two birders have described the bird's flight as very swift, causing it to look 'almost like a large orange beetle.' A friend of them who happened to be camping in the neighbourhood had seen this kingfisher eating a small gecko, a grasshopper, a dragonfly and diving for shrimps in the river. Besides small fish, it has been known to eat freshwater crabs and frogs, both some times of astonishing size for such a small bird.

At the suggestion of some bird-lovers, I visited the Pahalagama Estate (elevation 1000-1,500 ft) off the Eheliyagoda town, in February 1990. Among the many interesting West Zone birds I saw during my tour of the estate was the Three-toed Kingfisher amidst the thick vegetation on a rocky stream. I was told by the owner of the estate that a few days before my visit an adult of this kingfisher had been picked up dead at the Idangoda bazaar, Kiriella, just across the border of his property and identified by him. A few days later during a leisurely walk on the Colombo-Ratnapura highway, not far from the Eheliyagoda bazaar, Bird Club member Kurukulasinghe who was with me, pointed out to me a Three-toed Kingfisher on the edge of a paddy field beside the busy road, his first sight of the species after the day when one flew into his office room while he was in his seat, and escaped through the same window it had come in, after fluttering about for a few minutes. He had made a note of this in his diary.

The following October I observed one passing through my home garden, and it continued to do so in November and December, too. In May next year I observed individuals (pairs) flying through the garden, turn by turn, in an even direction and presumed they were caring for nestlings. But all my efforts to trace the site ended in failure. The following month an adult with a single juvenile visited the garden.

Although the Three-toed Kingfisher is believed to be mainly a Dry Zone species, records of the Ceylon Bird Club disprove this theory. Up to the present its nesting has been reported from a number of places in the wet lowlands as well as in the lower Hill Zone, the only shortcoming in the relevant observations being that none of them has given any details.

For example, in February 1975 P.B. Karunaratne of the National Museum, Colombo, while reporting his sighting of this kingfisher at Udawattakelle in Kandy had recalled that the species had earlier been observed nesting at the same spot, in 1964, but gives no details. Similarly, Thilo Hoffmann and some members of the Bird Club, on tour of the Memure Valley in May 1998 had observed the nesting of this kingfisher, but there too, no details were given.

Burrow

Now to quote Henry once again, "The nesting season is about March and April. The nesting burrow is dug in the bank of a small jungle stream, dry watercourse etc. and is similar to other kingfishers, but naturally smaller, its diameter being about two inches and its length from eight inches to two feet. The chamber measures about five inches in diameter. The two or three eggs are pure white, and measure about 19.5 by 16.5 mm."

Wait (1931) page 180 had stated "It has been found once breeding in the Mannar district. The nest hole was excavated in the side of a small watercourse. The eggs, three in number, were oval than in the case with other kingfishers, measuring .77 by .66."

Since the publication of the 1978 Revised Edition of the Annotated Checklist by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Ceylon in consultation with the Ceylon Bird Club, the Three-toed Kingfisher has been recorded from Gilimale, Sinharaja, Kitulgala, Deraniyagala, Ratnapura, Labugama, Avissawella, and Ingiriya in the wet lowlands.