Buff-breasted Paradise-kingfisher
Tanysiptera sylvia 33 cm
These birds migrate from their winter quarters in PNG to North Queensland arriving in November. The adult male has two long white tail plumes, shorter in female (bird depicted is a one year old male). They begin colonising KEC plantings at a very young stage if there are termite mounds available for nesting. A small hole with a landing platform is obvious. The juvenile is heavily mottled below and lacks white in the tail.
These birds migrate from their winter quarters in PNG to North Queensland arriving in November. The adult male has two long white tail plumes, shorter in female (bird depicted is a one year old male). They begin colonising KEC plantings at a very young stage if there are termite mounds available for nesting. A small hole with a landing platform is obvious. The juvenile is heavily mottled below and lacks white in the tail.
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Nesting: This is a typical nest site where the bird chooses a low, rounded termite mound on the forest floor. The bird pecks a hole and creates a chamber that is unlined. There 3-4 eggs are laid. Both parents feed the young which leave the nest in about 24 days. This nest is in the four-year-old plantings where the young were heard inside the nest. To the left of the hole is an attempt to make another hole - probably a first attempt before the proper hole was made.
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