Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx sangirensis)
The Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher was described in 1898; it was for a long time treated as a subspecies of the Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx fallax (Schlegel)) (see depiction), a small, about 12 cm large, colorful bird that itself inhabits the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is now considered a full species again.
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The Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher, as its name implies, is, or maybe was, restricted to the island of Sangihe Besar in the Sangihe Islands off northern Sulawesi.
The species differed from the Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher mainly by its slightly larger size as well as by its crown in which the blue bars are larger and more lustrous, by its blackish instead of lilac superciliary region and by its more lilac rump and wings. [1]
The Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher was last seen in 1997, and given the fact that its home island is now almost completely deforested, the chances for any population to have survived until today are very low – it is possibly extinct.
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Depiction from: ‘Richard Bowdler Sharpe: Monograph of the Alcedinidae, or family of kingfishers. London: published by the author 1868-1871’
(public domain)
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References:
[1] C. Hilary Fry; Kathie Fry: Kingfishers, bee-eaters, & Rollers. Helm 1992
[2] N. j. Collar; R. W. Martin: Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx sangirensis: a distinct and extinct endemic species. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 144(1): 76-90. 2024
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edited: 14.03.2024