The Story of Kingfishers

The Story of Kingfishers

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests.

Pied Kingfisher holding its feed fish

The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a water kingfisher and is found widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Their black and white plumage, crest and the habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish makes it distinctive.



White Brested Kindfisher perched



White-throated Kingfisher is a common species of a variety of habitats, mostly open country in the plains (but has been seen at 7500 ft in the Himalayas) with trees, wires or other perches. The range of the species is expanding



Whitebrested or White throated Kingfisher



 It perches conspicuously on wires or other exposed perches within its territory, and is a frequent sight in south Asia. This species mainly hunts large crustaceans, insects, earthworms, rodents, snakes, fish and frogs



WhiteBreated or White Throated Kingfisher



 The White-throated Kingfisher begins breeding at the onset of the Monsoons. Males perch on prominent high posts in their territory an call in the early morning. The tail may be flicked now and in its courtship display the wings are stiffly flicked open for a second or two exposing the white wing mirrors. They also raise their bill high and display the white throat and front.



Pied Kingfisher holding on to its feed



Their black and white plumage, crest and the habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish makes it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast while females have a single gorget that is often broken in the middle.



Pied Kingfisher with feed and pee



This kingfisher feeds mainly on fish, although it will take crustaceans and large aquatic insects such as dragonfly larvae. It usually hunts by hovering over the water to detect prey and diving vertically down bill-first to capture fish. They can deal with prey without returning to a perch, often swallowing small prey in flight, and so can hunt over large water bodies, but this was unusual scene it was found with feed and pee. 



Pied Kingfisher Family



They are usually found in pairs or small family parties. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.

-By Manjunath Krishnamurthy and
Photographs (c)