Alcedinidae, Rafinesque, 1815

Andersen, Michael J., Fatdal, Lilly, Mauck III, William M. & Smith, Brian Tilston, 2017, An ornithological survey of Vanuatu on the islands of Éfaté, Malakula, Gaua, and Vanua Lava, Check List 13 (6), pp. 755-782 : 763

Alcedinidae

Todiramphus farquhari ( Sharpe, 1899) , Vanuatu Kingfisher: Figure 2B

The Vanuatu Kingfisher ( Fig. 2B) is endemic to San- to, Malo, and Malakula islands. We detected it daily in and around our camp on Malakula. It was active vocally throughout the day, including at least 1 that we heard daily from camp. Daily counts ranged from 2–7 individuals. Its IUCN status is Near Threatened. At least 1 specimen collected on 27 November 2014 showed evidence of breeding, a female with a convoluted oviduct and a 2 × 2 mm yolk. No molting was evident and 2 specimens had stomach contents of large arthropods.

Vanuatu Kingfisher is 1 of 2 Todiramphus kingfishers on Malakula where it is sympatric with Pacific Kingfisher, Todiramphus sacer ( Dutson 2011) . This is one of only a few examples of sympatric Todiramphus kingfisher pairs anywhere in the Pacific ( Andersen et al. 2015). Prevailing wisdom suggests these sympatric species segregate by habitat, whereby one is more likely to be found in the island’s interior and the other occupies edge or coastal habitat ( Bregulla 1992, Pratt and Etpison 2008); however, we observed both Vanuatu Kingfisher and Pacific Kingfisher Todiramphus sacer occurring together in and around our Malakula camp. These species were easy to separate because T. farquhari has rich rufous-orange underparts and navy blue upperparts with a white collar, compared to whitish underparts and sea blue-green upperparts of T. sacer .

Todiramphus sacer ( Gmelin, 1788) , Pacific Kingfisher: Figure 2C, D

Pacific Kingfisher is a widespread species from the eastern Solomon Islands to Samoa and Tonga. It was recently recognized as a species separate from the polytypic Collared Kingfisher, Todiramphus chloris com- plex ( Andersen et al. 2015). Twenty-two subspecies are described, of which 5 occur in Vanuatu ( Clements et al. 2016). Our survey recorded 2 subspecies: juliae on Éfaté ( Fig. 2C) and Malakula ( Fig. 2D) and santoensis on Gaua and Vanua Lava. All T. sacer have whitish underparts and blue-green upperparts, making identification easy; how- ever, plumage is variable between subspecies so our subspecific identifications were based on known allopatric distributions on specific islands. Pacific Kingfisher was common throughout and they occurred from the coastal scrub to interior forest, including in villages. Its IUCN status is Least Concern. MJA observed 1 individual leaving a nest cavity in a rotting log near our camp on Éfaté, 21 November 2014. Numerous specimens of T. s. juliae had enlarged gonads, but gonads on T. s. santoensis specimens showed no signs of breeding. Minimal molt was noted in these specimens and stomach contents included large arthropods, plus 1 individual from Éfaté with lizard bones.