Documenting Nesting and Breeding Ecology with Time Activity Budget of White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) in Swat, Pakistan

Abstract

White-throated kingfisher Halcyon smyrensis is a common resident of wetlands in Asia including Pakistan. Breeding ecology and time budget activity was investigated in 16 active nests at 6 different sites during the current study. Nest construction was primarily initiated by the male while female joined later on. Mean size of circumference of the nest was 3.27 inch, mean length of tunnel 2.82 feet. Clutch size varied between 1 and 5 with an average of 3.25 per nest. Both parents incubated the eggs which hatched after a duration of 15-18 days. Hatching success was 94% while survival of fledglings was 90% in the study area. The most dominant activities performed by the white-throated kingfisher was flying (33.3%) and resting (33.3%) followed by hunting (25.1%) and preening (8.3%). Flying and hunting activities are mostly concentrated in the early morning and evening times which correspond to the energy needs of the species and the resting time peaked during mid-day, may be associated with temperature coping strategy. Difference observed in pre and post hatching activity patterns may be attributed to time needed for incubation and responsibility of providing food to the young ones. White-throated kingfisher makes need based time allocation for various activities to increase reproductive success. The current study documents important ecological and behavioral aspects of white-throated kingfisher. Nevertheless, it is limited to a single breeding season in a small area therefore making broader generalization may not be appropriate based on this study. However, this can be used to replicate the study for month or season wise data collection for better understanding behavioral ecology and time budget activity of the species.