Sacred Kingfisher

Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus, uncommon non-breeding visitor  from Australia, most records are during austral winter. They migrate chiefly to southern Borneo and rarely to as far north as Sabah.

Four lucky birders/photographers (Predente C., Choo T.C., D.O., and myself)  saw this bird in Sukau on 11th November 2006, well outside the austral winter months. It  perched on a tree near a villager's house, and it dove to catch a grasshoper while we were observing it.  Here are the photos for records.

Happy birding.

REFERENCES 

MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K. (1993) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mann, C.F. (2008) The birds of Borneo, an annotated Checklist. Peterbourough, UK: British Ornithologists' Union.

Myers S. (2009) A field Guide to the birds of Borneo. London, UK: New Holland Publishers.


Phillipps, Q & Phillipps, K. (2009) Phillipps' field guide to the birds of Borneo, Oxford, UK: John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd.

Sheldon, F.H., Moyle, R.G. and Kennard, J. (2001) Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist, and Bibliography. Washington D.C.:The American Ornithologists' Union.

Smythies, B.E. and Davison, G.W.H. (1999) The birds of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. and the Sabah Society.