biology

Southern silvery kingfisher

Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher rather than just read about it. In short: The southern silvery kingfisher (Ceyx argentatus) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to the Philippines found in Mindanao and Basilan. This species and the northern silvery kingfisher, found in the Visayas, were formerly considered conspecific and called the silvery kingfisher.Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests, streams and rivers.

Key takeaways

Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Southern silvery kingfisher from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The southern silvery kingfisher (Ceyx argentatus) is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to the Philippines found in Mindanao and Basilan. This species and the northern silvery kingfisher, found in the Visayas, were formerly considered conspecific and called the silvery kingfisher.Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests, streams and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss. In the Philippines, it is called kasay-kasay, and figures in the legend concerning the discovery of the Catholic image of Our Lady of Caysasay.

Description and taxonomy It is differentiated from its northern counterpart by its bluish-white throat, cheek and belly versus the cream-coloured parts of the Northern silvery kingfisher. It also is greenish blue on belly and flanks and is slightly larger. This species is monotypic and has no subspecies.

Ecology and behavior Diet consists of small fish and crabs. Has aloso been recorded feeding on insects. Perches on a low branch beside a stream and dives in to catch its prey then returns to its perch. Not much is known about its breeding behaviour but juveniles and nests have been seen from February to May. Nests in streamside banks.

Habitat and conservation status It appears to be reliant upon forested streams below 1,000 m and will tolerate secondary and selectively logged forest and even streamside vegetation within coconut plantations, close to forest edge. IUCN has assessed this bird as near threatened with the population being estimated at 1,500 to 7,000 mature individuals. This species' main threat is habitat loss with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of logging, agricultural conversion and mining activities occurring within the range. Extensive lowland deforestation throughout its range is the chief threat. Most remaining lowland forest is leased to logging concessions or mining applications. Watercourses with high siltation loads, resulting from deforestation, appear not to hold the species, and riverine pollution is likely to have a similar impact. Forest at Bislig (Mindanao) is being cleared under concession and re-planted with exotic trees for paper production. Conversion of terminalia forest into rice fields and oil palm plantation is driving habitat loss elsewhere.

References

Collar, N.J. 2011. Species limits in some Philippine birds including the Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes lucidus. Forktail number 27: 29–38.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Southern silvery kingfisher

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher

In research: Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery 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: Southern silvery kingfisher is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1877, Birds of Mindanao, Ceyx (bird), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Southern silvery kingfisher in simple terms?

Why does Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery 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 Southern silvery kingfisher.