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Clearing up the Collared Kingfishers

10,000 Birds

One new Pacific island form is the Mariana Kingfisher ( Todiramphus albicilla ) from the Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Saipan, Micronesia. Subspecies vitiensis , Fiji. Subspecies juliae , Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. For example only a single subspecies from Vanuatu was sampled. Mariana Kingfisher. Photo by author.

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Confusing Collared Kingfishers

10,000 Birds

Vanuatu has five subspecies, Fiji has three, and the far flung Solomon Islands have twelve. Subspecies albicilla , Saipan, Micronesia. Subspecies juliae , Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. I saw this kingfisher on a trip to the largest island in Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo. It is also where the majority of subspecies occur.

Samoa 166