Moustached kingfisher
Actenoides bougainvillei (Rothschild, 1904)
The moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei) is a species in the family Alcedinidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh 187.8 g to 188 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the moustached kingfisher
- Weight
- 188 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the moustached kingfisher live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The moustached kingfisher is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the moustached kingfisher?
The moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei), also called Bougainville moustached kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. An estimated 1,300–7,000 mature individuals are left.
Their natural habitats are subtropical or tropical, moist, lowland forests and subtropical or tropical, moist, montane forests; they nest in tree holes. They are threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators.
The Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher was previously lumped together with A. bougainvillei, but is now regarded as a separate species. It was first described in 1904, and in the late 1930s, a dozen specimens were collected in southern Bougainville. In 1941, A. b. excelsus was described on the basis of a single specimen from Guadalcanal, and later in 1953, two more specimens were obtained. In 2015, a male specimen was killed and collected by a team from the American Museum of Natural History headed by Christopher Filardi. In 2024, one pair was recorded by a birdwatching tour group on Bougainville after ten days of searching. They photographed the male, and recordings of the song were noted to sound different to those from Guadalcanal.
From the Wikipedia article “Moustached kingfisher” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moustached_kingfisher&oldid=1372405709), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the moustached kingfisher endangered?
The moustached kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the moustached kingfisher classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCoraciiformes
- familyAlcedinidae
- genusActenoides
- SpeciesActenoides bougainvillei (Rothschild, 1904)
Synonyms Halcyon bougainvillei bougainvillei
Other names and names in other languages (44)
- Bougainville moustached kingfisherEnglish
- Bougainville moustached kingfisherEnglish
- رفراف ذو الشاربينArabic
- الرفراف ذو الشاربينArabic
- alció de l'illa BouganvilleCatalan
- Alció de l'illa de BougainvilleCatalan
- ledňáček vousatýCzech
- pysgotwr mwstasiogWelsh
- Blåbåndet SkovisfuglDanish
- BartliestGerman
- Bougainville-BartliestGerman
- liphara alcionoEsperanto
- Alción bigotudoSpanish
- Alción bigotudo de la BougainvilleSpanish
- loit-safiirlindEstonian
- ماهیخورک سبیلدارPersian
- viiksikalastajaFinnish
- Martin-chasseur à moustachesFrench
- Cruidín croiméalachIrish
- solomonski vodomarCroatian
- bajszos halciónHungarian
- Martin pescatore dai mustacchiItalian
- ブーゲンビルショウビンJapanese
- ūsuotasis halcionasLithuanian
- SalomonsbosijsvogelDutch
- mustasjeisfuglNorwegian
- krasnogłów wąsatyPolish
- ایکٹینائیڈ بوگنولیWestern Panjabi
- guarda-rios-de-bigodesPortuguese
- martim-caçador-de-bigodePortuguese
- martim-caçador-de-bigodesPortuguese
- Усатая альционаRussian
- Усатый зимородокRussian
- Бугенвильский ошейниковый зимородокRussian
- rybárikovec fúzatýSlovak
- brkati gozdomecSlovenian
- Brkati vodomarSerbian
- mustaschkungsfiskareSwedish
- Bıyıklı yalıçapkınıTurkish
- Bogenvil YalıçapkınıTurkish
- альціон вусатийUkrainian
- Sả có riaVietnamese
- 须翡翠Chinese
- 鬚翡翠Chinese
Relatives of the moustached kingfisher
Other species in the same genus Actenoides.
Rufous-collared kingfisher
Actenoides concretus
Green-backed kingfisher
Actenoides monachus
Scaly-breasted kingfisher
Actenoides princeps
Spotted wood kingfisher
Actenoides lindsayi
Blue-capped kingfisher
Actenoides hombroni
CompareMoustached kingfisher vs Rufous-collared kingfisherMoustached kingfisher vs Green-backed kingfisherMoustached kingfisher vs Scaly-breasted kingfisherMoustached kingfisher vs Spotted wood kingfisher
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the moustached kingfisher?
An adult moustached kingfisher weighs 188 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the moustached kingfisher live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the moustached kingfisher for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the moustached kingfisher endangered?
The moustached kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the moustached kingfisher?
The moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei) belongs to the family Alcedinidae in the order Coraciiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/moustached-kingfisher
“Moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/moustached-kingfisher.
@misc{moustached_kingfisher_2026,
title = {Moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/moustached-kingfisher},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}