📸 PhotoPhoto: Jason Thompson · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Ruddy Kingfisher
Halcyon coromanda (Ruddy Kingfisher · アカショウビン)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its body length of 27.5 cm is about 2 cm shorter than the long side of an A4 sheet of paper (29.7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Because it is a nationwide summer visitor breeding in lush forests along mountain valleys and lakeshores, it can be encountered in valley woods during summer.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Ruddy Kingfisher is a bird in the kingfisher family with reddish-apricot plumage overall, breeding as a summer visitor in dense forests across Korea.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The male is evenly reddish-apricot on the head, back, wings, and tail with a reddish-purple gloss that is especially strong on the tail. Its bill and irises are dark red, and its chin is buffy white.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It favors amphibians and crustaceans. It excavates its own nest hole in tree cavities in forests, cliff caves, earthen banks, or rotting tree trunks, where males and females take turns incubating the eggs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed in the National List of Species of Korea as a fairly common summer visitor found nationwide.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2025) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22683234/216194017
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 216194017
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001891 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001891
- • wikidata.org — Q1110083
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Ruddy Kingfisher.jpg
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Andy Wilson · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Halcyon smyrnensis)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.