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Male
Photo by nothinghill
Thailand, April 2005

Lacedo pulchella

[edit] Identification

22 to 23 cm
Male

• Chestnut forehead, cheeks and nape
• Bright blue cap
• Upperparts black with blue bands
• Rufous breast, flanks and undertail
• White central belly
• Sturdy red bill
• Short crest which is slowly raised and lowered
  

Female
Photo by mohbhorn
Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, January 2008

Female

• Black and rufous banded upperparts
• White underparts with some black bars on the chest and flanks
  

Juveniles duller; brown and orange bill. Dusky barring on the underparts.

[edit] Distribution

Southeast Asia: found in Indochina, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Malay Peninsula, Brunei, Borneo, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Sumatra, Java

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies^[1]:

• L. p. amabilis: slightly larger than the nominate form. The male has a blue nape, the female is more rufous
  

• Lowland forests of southern Burma, Thailand and southern Vietnam

• L. p. deignani:

• Southern Thailand

• L. p. pulchella:

• Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Riau Archipelago and North Natuna Islands

• L. p. melanops: male has a black forehead, cheeks and nape

• Borneo and Bangka Island

[edit] Habitat

Not often found along streams and rivers. Lowland evergreen rainforest between 400 to 1,100m

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

Two to five white eggs are laid in the nest which is in a hole in a rotting tree trunk, or they may utilise the nest of tree termites.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes large insects and occasionally small lizards.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member Observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links