biology

Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher

Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher rather than just read about it. In short: The Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei excelsus) is a kingfisher in the subfamily Halcyoninae that is endemic to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The bird can be found in closed-canopy forests at elevations of 900–1,100 m (3,000–3,600 ft), and is reported to nest in holes in the ground.

Key takeaways

Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei excelsus) is a kingfisher in the subfamily Halcyoninae that is endemic to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The bird can be found in closed-canopy forests at elevations of 900–1,100 m (3,000–3,600 ft), and is reported to nest in holes in the ground. It is considered a subspecies of the moustached kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei) by the International Ornithologists' Union but some taxonomists elevate the taxon to species status. The Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher is named for a stripe of blue feathers from the beak to the side of the head. Males have a blue back; females have a greenish back. Prior to 2015, the species had only been recorded twice, a single female in the 1920s and two females in 1953; no males had ever been recorded, and no live specimens had been photographed. In 2015 a male bird was captured and photographed for the first time in the forests of Guadalcanal. The bird was then killed for scientific study to obtain a set of molecular and morphological data. The killing was criticized as not necessary for science. The researcher who photographed and killed the bird estimated there are over 4000 living birds, the bird is not rare and killing one did not threaten the population viability.

References

External links Un científico, bajo presión por matar a un pájaro al que buscó 20 años, El País, Madrid, 18 OCT 2015, [1] 18 OCT 2015.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher

In research: Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Actenoides, Birds described in 2014, Birds of Guadalcanal, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher in simple terms?

Why does Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher.