A color illustration of three white-collared kingfishers sitting on the branches of a tree. The illustration shows two blue and white birds in the foreground and one blue and white bird in the background. All three birds have a blue back, wings, and tail, a white chest and chin, a white band around their necks, and black beaks. The vary in the color of the tops of their heads. One has a blue cap with an orange stripe, one has a blue cap with a white stripe, and one has a mostly white head with a blue stripe and a blue patch on the top of its head.

Additional Resources

Page snapshot: Additional resources about kingfishers and collections-based research.

Topics covered on this page: Kingfishers; Specimen collecting; Museums; The research team.

Credits: Funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. 

Updates: Page last updated November 22, 2023.

Image above: White-collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris). From Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1868-1871) A monograph of the Alcedinidae: or, family of kingfishers (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, image cropped and levels adjusted).

Kingfishers

Australo-Pacific kingfishers (Todiramphus)

Articles

O'Connell, D. 2018. Kingfisher evolution in the Wallacea region. British Ornithological Union blog, 5 November 2018. https://bou.org.uk/blog-oconnell-todiramphus-kingfisher-evolution/

Winkler, D.W., S.M. Billerman, and I.J. Lovette. 2020. Kingfishers (Alcedinidae), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Online (S.M. Billerman, B.K. Keeney, P.G. Rodewald, and T.S. Schulenberg, eds.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, U.S.A. [subscription needed to access content] https://doi-org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/10.2173/bow.alcedi1.01

Scientific articles

Andersen, M.J., H.T. Shult, A. Cibois, J.-C. Thibault, C.E. Filardi, and R.G. Moyle. 2015. Rapid diversification and secondary sympatry in Australo-Pacific kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae: Todiramphus). Royal Society Open Science 2: 140375. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140375

Specimen collecting

Articles

Filardi, C. E. 2015. Why I collected a moustached kingfisher. Audobon, 7 October 2015. https://www.audubon.org/news/why-i-collected-moustached-kingfisher

Johnson, K. W. 2018. The ornithologist the internet called a murder. The New York Times, 15 June 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/opinion/sunday/moustached-kingfisher-internet-harassment.html

Museums

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The research team

Websites

Personal/work websites

Andersen Lab & the University of New Mexico (lab website): https://www.andersenlabunm.org/

Chad M. Eliason (Senior Research Scientist, Field Museum of Natural History): https://celiason.github.io/

Shannon Hackett (Field Museum profile): https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/staff/profile/shannon-hackett

Corinne E. Myers (lab website): https://cemyers.weebly.com/

resources from the Paleontological Research Institution

Daring to Dig: Corinne Myers (profile): https://www.museumoftheearth.org/daring-to-dig/bio/myers

Articles about their work

Finding the genes that help kingfishers dive without hurting their brains (The Field Museum press release): https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/finding-the-genes-that-help-kingfishers-dive-without-hurting-their-brains

In search of the Last Cretaceous turritellid gastropod, and the aftermath (by Warren D. Allmaon, Paleontological Research Institution blog): https://www.priweb.org/blog-post/in-search-of-the-last-cretaceous-turritellid-gastropod-and-the-aftermath?blm_aid=25860

Selected research papers on kingfishers

Andersen, M.J., J.M. McCullough, W.M. Mauck III, B.T. Smith, R.G. Moyle. 2018. A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayn origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography 45: 269-281. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13139

DeRaad, D.A., J.M. McCullough, L.H. DeCicco, P.M. Hime, L. Joseph, M.J. Andersen, and R.G. Moyle. 2023. Mitonuclear discordance results from incomplete lineage sorting, with no detectable evidence for gene flow, in a rapid radiation of Todiramphus kingfishers. Molecular Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17080

Eliason, C.M., T. Hains, J. McCullough, M.J. Andersen, S.J. Hackett. 2022. Genomic novelty within a “great speciator” revealed by a high-quality reference genome of the collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris collaris). G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 12: jkac260. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac260

Eliason, C.M., J.M. McCullough, S.J. Hackett, M.J. Andersen. 2023. Complex plumages spur rapid color diversification in kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae). eLife 12: e83426. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83426

Eliason, C.M., L.E. Mellenthin, T. Hains, J.M. McCullough, S. Pirro, M.J. Andersen, and S.J. Hackett. 2023. Genomic signatures of convergent shifts to plunge-diving behavior in birds. Communications Biology 6: 1011. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05359-z

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