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Collection  >  Order (Birds)  >  Order Information (Coraciiformes)

Coraciiformes

Coraciiformes, from Latin corax (“raven”) and Latin -fōrmis (“-shaped”), in reference to the fact that all the members of this order are raven-shaped animals, although the raven is not a member of this order, but rather of Passeriformes.

Kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, motmots, todies.

Photos

DISTRIBUTION

Worldwide except extremely arid or cold areas and some oceanic islands.

SIZE

They are small to medium sized birds (10 to 160 cm in length). 

MORPHOLOGY

They have short necks, big heads, vivid plumage, and small legs. They might have pointed or rounded wings. With three forward-pointing toes (and toes 3 and 4 fused at their base), they typically exhibit syndactyly. Their bills are curved, long and end in a sharp point, or long, dagger-like. Often brightly coloured.

ECOLOGY & HABITAT

They can be found in every kind of environment, avoiding the extremely arid or cold ones.

DIET

The diets vary across the order. There are aerial hunters of insect prey, watch-and-wait hunters of terrestrial invertebrates, and small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, rodents and young birds, and aquatic hunters of fish, crustaceans, frogs and other amphibians, annelid worms, molluscs, etc.

REPRODUCTION

They are generally monogamous, nesting in an already existing hole such as holes in trees, walls, between rocks, etc. Both male and female feed the young.

REFERENCES

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A. (2010). Handbook of the Birds of the World Series. Lynx Edicions.

Lovette, I. J., Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2016). Handbook of Bird Biology. Wiley-Blackwell.

Gill, F. B., Prum, R. O. (2019). Ornithology. W.H. Freeman & Co. Ltd.

Total species known

185

Species in the collection

5

Species in Hong Kong

12

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