Sacred Kingfisher

( Todiramphus sanctus norfolkiensis )

“Dars Nuffka” he yelled out, over the salt spray, as the ship Morayshire sighted the Kingfisher and then its home, Norfolk Island. And so the Norfolk Island Scared Kingfisher ( Halcyon,sancta,vagans – also spelt ‘Norffka’ or ‘Norfolker’) was named by the first Pitcairn Settlers when they arrived in 1856. This beautiful bird survived today amid the trees and forests of the island.

With their blue-grey wings, green back and golden breast, these kingfishers can often be seen perching on branches, posts and powerlines. The local name for these charismatic birds is ‘nuffka’, meaning Norfolker.

Nesting from September to December, they build burrows by flying full speed into the ground to loosen dirt before finishing the job with their claws and beak.

The name "sacred kingfisher" can be traced back to Latham's 1782 description of the species and what he called the "Respected Kingsfisher" of the Friendly Isles (now Tonga), and the "Venerated Kingsfisher" of the Society Islands (both collared kingfishers). Latham claims, citing Parkinson's journals, that all three kingfishers were held in "superstitious veneration" by the natives on account of frequently inhabiting marae and burial grounds, and were not allowed to be taken or killed. Later sources claim Polynesians venerated it for having the power of control over the waves.

Taxonomy

The binomial name Halcyon sanctus was introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827 who described a sacred kingfisher zoological specimen from New Holland, Australia. Vigors and Horsfield compare it with Alcedo sacra described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788. Gmelin in turn based his description on John Latham's "Sacred King's Fisher" published in 1782. Latham described several varieties, one of which was illustrated in Arthur Phillip's The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay published in 1789. The genus Halcyon is now split and the sacred kingfisher placed in the genus Todiramphus that had been erected by the French surgeon and naturalist René Lesson in 1827. The generic name is derived from the genus Todus (Brisson, 1760), 'tody' (a West Indian insectivorous bird) and Ancient Greek rhamphos (ῥάμφος), 'bill'. The specific epithet is the Latin sanctus 'sacred'.

Five subspecies are recognised:

s. sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) – Australia to eastern Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Indonesia

s. vagans (Lesson, 1828) – New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Kermadec Islands

s. norfolkiensis (Tristram, 1885) – Norfolk Island

s. canacorum (Brasil, L, 1916) – New Caledonia

s. macmillani (Mayr, 1940) – Loyalty Islands

The holotype of Halcyon norfolkiensis Tristram is an adult male held in the vertebrate zoology collection of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number NML-VZ T6527. The specimen was collected in Norfolk Island in October 1879 by E. L. Layard and came to the Liverpool national collection through the purchase of Canon Henry Baker Tristram's collection by the museum in 1896.

Birds Endemic to Norfolk Island:

Golden Whistler - Pachycephala pectoralis xanthoprocta

Grey Fantail - Rhipdura fuliginosa pelzeini

Grey Gerygone - Gerygone modesta  (Passeriformes Acanthizidae)

Green Parrot - Cyanoramphus cookii  (Psittaciformes Psittacidae)

Long-billed white-eye  - Zosterops tenuirostris  (Passeriformes Zosteropidae)

Sacred Kingfisher - Todiramphus sanctus norfolkiensis

Scarlet Robin -  Petroica multicolor  (Passeriformes Petroicidae)

White-chested White-eye -  Zosterops albogularis  (Passeriformes Zosteropidae)

Resources:

National Parks Birdwatching Link

Avibase - The World Bird Database 

Ebird : https://ebird.org/home

Wikipedia List of birds of Norfolk Island