Todiramphus nigrocyaneus
Nominate nigrocyaneus in which the male has blue underparts with a white throat and a white bar on the upper belly on the W Papuan Islands, the Vogelkop Peninsula, and in SW New Guinea, quadricolor in which the male has white throat, blue breast, and a rufous belly on Yapen and further east on the northern mainland of New Guinea, and stictolaemus in which the male has largely uniform blue underparts in S & SE New Guinea.
Data deficient
Nominate nigrocyaneus in which the male has blue underparts with a white throat and a white bar on the upper belly on the W Papuan Islands, the Vogelkop Peninsula, and in SW New Guinea, quadricolor in which the male has white throat, blue breast, and a rufous belly on Yapen and further east on the northern mainland of New Guinea, and stictolaemus in which the male has largely uniform blue underparts in S & SE New Guinea.
Taxonomy:
- Halcyon nigrocyanea Wallace, 1862, Manokwari, New Guinea. Genus often merged into Halcyon. Races very distinctive, and have on occasion been suggested to be separate species; however, intermediates have been found in areas of overlap, between nominate and quadricolor (on shores of Geelvink Bay) and nominate and stictolaemus (Merauke to R Fly), while ecology and vocalizations appear very similar, all together indicating that the three are probably conspecific. Three subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * nigrocyaneus ( Wallace, 1862) - W Papuan Is (Batanta, Salawati) E to Geelvink Bay in N and to Princess Marianne Strait in S. * quadricolor ( Oustalet, 1880) - Yapen I to Madang and Astrolabe Bay. * stictolaemus ( Salvadori, 1876) - Koerik District and R Fly E to Mt Cameron (W Owen Stanley Range).
A bird occurring along streams, swamps, and ponds in the lowland forest of New Guinea and the adjacent islands of Salawati, Batanta, and Yapen. It is inexplicably rare, being known from relatively few scattered records. Its numbers are likely to be influenced negatively by clearing of forest along rivers and by water pollution and increased water turbidity caused by mining.
Small crabs are the favoured food in coastal regions but a wide variety of other animals are eaten including insects, worms, snails, shrimps, frogs, lizards and small fish.