Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)

Half-collared Kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata) - HBW 6, p. 239

French: Martin-pêcheur à demi-collier German: Kobalteisvogel Spanish: Martín Pescador Cobalto

Taxonomy: Alcedo semitorquata Swainson, 1823, Great Fish River, South Africa.
Forms a superspecies with A. atthis, and formerly considered conspecific. Several races have been described, including tephria (equator to R Save in Mozambique) and heuglini (Dire Daoua in Ethiopia), but regional variations in wing length and bill depth are slight and seem insufficient to warrant racial separation. Monotypic.

Distribution: Ethiopia and adjacent SE Sudan, and from Angola (Mossamedes) E to Tanzania and S to NE Namibia, E Botswana and NE & S South Africa; rare breeding records from Kenya.