Monday, June 18, 2018

Pied Kingfisher

The pied kingfisher has black and white coloration, including a black face-mask; a black crown; black and white spotted wings; a white supercilium (a stripe which runs from the base of the beak, above the eye, and finishing toward the back of the head); black breast-bands (females have one, males have two); and a black dagger-like bill. 
This kingfisher was seen on the edge of a river in the Okavanga Delta of Botswana. We saw kingfishers plunging into the water after fish. 
Standing on a rusted piece of metal in the Okavanga Delta.
There are five subspecies. We saw the nominate subspecies (rudis), found in Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa. 
These pictures from the Zambia side of the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls show different looks of the head. 

It feeds mainly on fish, but will also eat crustaceans and large aquatic insects, such as dragon-fly larvae. 

1 comment:

  1. The head and beak are so disproportionate to the body.

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