Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher

From Cooper Creek Wilderness Wiki Daintree Rainforest QLD Wiki

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher Tanysiptera sylvia; Migratory; Uncommon

The stunningly beautiful Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher spends half the year in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea and the other half in tropical north Queensland.

They arrive en masse and punctually at the end of October. They return to PNG towards the end of April.

The male kingfisher excavates an upwardly sloping burrow into a terrestrial termite mound, causing the resident termite population to seal the inner wall, thus creating ideal incubating qualities.

The female nests with her sharp beak towards the narrow entrance, ever-vigilant to the approach of scavenging reptiles.