📸 PhotoPhoto: JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Black-capped Kingfisher
Halcyon pileata (Black-capped Kingfisher · ヤマショウビン)
🇰🇷 Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society records that the proportion of 1 km grid squares in which this bird was observed fell from 2.4% in 2001–05 to 0.2% in 2016–19.
- 💡 Its body length of 28–31 cm is similar to a student's 30 cm ruler (Comparison).
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 Black-capped Kingfisher is a large kingfisher measuring 28–31 cm in body length, notable for its red bill, black head, and white collar. Because its population is declining, the IUCN assesses it as Vulnerable (VU).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Adults have a red bill that is darker at the base, a black head and shoulders, and a white neck. First-winter juveniles have gray scaly markings on the breast, and a large white patch at the base of the primaries is visible in flight.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Outside the breeding season, it stays mainly along coasts with mudflats, tidal creeks, and mangroves, and occasionally appears at fish ponds or urban parks. In Hong Kong it is a scarce migrant and winter visitor, and numbers seen in the Deep Bay wetlands have dropped sharply.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In Korea, it is protected as a Class II endangered wildlife species (Korea).
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22683249/212490546
- • 멸종위기 야생생물 Ⅱ급 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001892 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001892
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • Korean protection status: Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 212490546
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001892 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001892
- • wikidata.org — Q1049056
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Halcyon pileata - Phra Non.jpg
- • avifauna.hkbws.org.hk — 028100
- • 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.