White Throated Kingfisher Food

Food items, preying and feeding activities of white-breasted Kingfisher, Halcyon smyrnensis were studied from September 2008 to September 2011 at Nikunja-1 in Dhaka City Corporation area. A total of 16 species of food items were recorded from the observation. Fishes (more than 60%) were mostly preferred item. The highest preference was fry of Labeo rohita (30.6%). They highly preferred the species belonging to the Family Cyprinidae and Order Cypriniformes. The length of the food items varied from 2.0 to 12.3 cm. Surface dweller species (85.8%) was highly preferred. During preying, they used 0.3 to 2.25 m height, among which the highest preference was 0.9 m (32%). H. smyrnensis targeted the food items before catching while they took 9 sec to 15 min 17 sec. After catching they either engulfed the prey immediately or hold it at their beak for 2 sec to 30 min 30 sec before engulfing. Bamboos found in the water body were mostly preferred (65.9%) as perching places during preying. 

Read More: White-throated kingfisher Facts

Song repertoires of Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) populations in a neighboring sapling, pole, and saw-timber stands in eastern Texas were tape-recorded during the 1979 breeding season. Cardinals in each area used different syllable types and sang songs of varying duration and complexity. Cluster analysis and discriminant function analysis identified three distinct dialects, one for each of the three study areas. Cardinals in the sapling stand used a wider range of frequencies than did those in the saw-timber stand. 

Cardinals in the pole stand used a range of frequencies intermediate in size to that of either the sapling or saw-timber stands. For all three populations, the frequency with the greatest amplitude was about 2 100 Hz, a low frequency that carries better than high frequencies over long distances. 

In the stand that lacked a closed canopy, cardinals typically used syllables with considerable frequency modulation; however, in the two older stands cardinals seldom used extensive frequency modulation in their songs. 

Differential singing behavior of this nature probably enhances long-distance communication by minimizing excessive reverberation from canopy foliage. We suggest that some of the differences in syllable structure noted between the three cardinal dialects may be the result of selective pressures exerted by the acoustics of the environment.