CreatureData

Sacred kingfisher

Todiramphus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) is a species in the family Alcedinidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh 45.1 g to 54 g and live up to 8.08 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus)
Photo: Jim Bendon from Karratha, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the sacred kingfisher

Weight
45.1 g – 54 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
8.08 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
woodlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
4.5 – 4.64src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Photos of the sacred kingfisher

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.

Where does the sacred 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 sacred kingfisher is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the sacred kingfisher?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that inhabits mangroves, woodlands, forests and river valleys in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the western Pacific.

From the Wikipedia article “Sacred kingfisher” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sacred_kingfisher&oldid=1379852420), 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 sacred kingfisher endangered?

The sacred kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. 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 sacred kingfisher classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCoraciiformes
  5. familyAlcedinidae
  6. genusTodiramphus
  7. SpeciesTodiramphus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Synonyms Halcyon sancta, Halcyon sancta sancta, Todirhamphus sanctus, Todirhamphus sanctus sanctus

Other names and names in other languages (34)
  • alció sagratCatalan
  • ledňáček posvátnýCzech
  • Hellig IsfuglDanish
  • GötzenliestGerman
  • sankta alcionoEsperanto
  • Alción sagradoSpanish
  • lõuna-safiirlindEstonian
  • pyhimyskalastajaFinnish
  • Martin-chasseur sacréFrench
  • žućkastotrbi vodomarCroatian
  • szent halciónHungarian
  • Cekakak australiaIndonesian
  • Cekakak SuciIndonesian
  • Martin pescatore sacroItalian
  • ヒジリショウビンJapanese
  • šventasis todiramfasLithuanian
  • KōtareMāori
  • Heilige IJsvogelDutch
  • maskaraisfuglNorwegian
  • Łowiec czczonyPolish
  • łowczyk czczonyPolish
  • guarda-rios-sagradoPortuguese
  • martim-caçador-sagradoPortuguese
  • Священная альционаRussian
  • rybárikovec posvätnýSlovak
  • sveti gozdomecSlovenian
  • Sveti vodomarSerbian
  • helig kungsfiskareSwedish
  • นกกินเปี้ยวท้องสีส้มThai
  • Kutsal YalıçapkınıTurkish
  • альціон священнийUkrainian
  • dyaramakxdk
  • 白眉翡翠Chinese
  • 神聖翡翠Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the sacred kingfisher

Other species in the same genus Todiramphus.

CompareSacred kingfisher vs Collared kingfisherSacred kingfisher vs Forest kingfisherSacred kingfisher vs Guam kingfisherSacred kingfisher vs Blue-and-white kingfisher

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the sacred kingfisher?

An adult sacred kingfisher weighs 45.1 g – 54 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the sacred kingfisher live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the sacred kingfisher for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the sacred kingfisher endangered?

The sacred kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the sacred kingfisher live?

The sacred kingfisher has a recorded lifespan of 8.08 years.

What kind of animal is the sacred kingfisher?

The sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sacred-kingfisher

MLA

“Sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sacred-kingfisher.

BibTeX
@misc{sacred_kingfisher_2026,
  title = {Sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sacred-kingfisher},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}