BIRDS

KINGFISHERS OF BRAZIL

  

    Introduction
    From the 84 kingfishers species that exist in the world, there are just 5 in Brazil, being the Ringed Kingfisher (Ceryle torquata; Martin-pescador-grande or matraca), the most known specie of the family Alcedinidae, not just for its size, because it is the biggest of this specie in Brazil, as for being common and noisy.
    The birds of this family (Alcedinidae) are associated to aquatic environments, living near lakes, rivers etc, because they depend on this kind of environment for feeding, because they eat small fishes, aquatic insects etc.
    They commonly stay in branches near the water, observing possible preys, which they reach in a perfect flying, which many times are vertical. They also stay on air, on water “mirrors”, for than falling on the preys, being more common this action for the Ringed Kingfisher (Ceryle torquata; Martim-pescador-grande).
    The Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana; Martin-pescador-pequeno), live in rivers and small lakes, and do low-flying on water, falling the rivers curves, and sometimes going on big distances.
    The smallest of the kingfishers is the Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea; Ararimbinha), having just 12,5 cm, and the Ringed Kingfisher (Ceryle torquata; Martim-pescador-grande) reaches 42 cm.
    All of they make their nests in gullies, usually near rivers or lakes. The nest is long and in the incubate bed it is put the eggs and bred the young without any cleaning.
    They live in couples and the males are different from the females by the brown spot in the chest, which varies in the different species.

 Species that occur in Brazil

Ringed Kingfisher; Ceryle torquata; Martim-pescador-grande, matraca
Amazon Kingfisher; Chloroceryle amazona;Martim-pescador-verde
Green Kingfisher; Chloroceryle americana;Martin-pescador-pequeno
Green-and-rufous Kingfisher; Chloroceryle inda; Martin-pescador-da-mata
Pygmy Kingfisher; Chloroceryle aenea; Ararimbinha

Consulted Bibliography
DUNNING, J. S. 1987. South American Birds: A photographic aid to identification. Newtown Square: Harrowood Books.
HOFLING, ELIZABETH; CAMARGO, HÉLIO F. DE A. . Aves do Campus, EDUSP, 3ªedição.1999.
HOWARD, RICHARD and MOORE, ALICE. A complete checklist of the birds of the world. Academic Press.1991.
SCHAUENSEE, RODOLPHE MEYER DE. A guide to the birds of South America. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 1970.
SICK, H. 1997. Ornitologia Brasileira. Edição revista e ampliada por J. F. Pacheco. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Nova Fronteira.
SOUZA, DEODATO. Todas as aves do Brasil. Editora DALL. 1998.

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