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KINGFISHERS

The kingfishers form a fairly small but common group of birds, and several species are exceptionally beautiful with habits fascinating to watch.

The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis), with a black collar around its neck and the remainder of its body bedecked with patterns of black and white, is common along all the rivers and larger streams. Mostly they are seen singly, sitting serenely on some branch along the river bank overlooking the water. Now and again they will fly low over the river surface for some distance and then suddenly swoop up and hover three or four meters above the water. Should a kingfisher see any fish of suitable size, it folds its wings and drops straight down, head first, into the water. A moment or two later it emerges with a small fish struggling in its beak. The bird carries the fish back to its perch, kills it by beating it against a branch, and then swallows it before repeating the whole cycle.

A bird with similar hunting habits is the Giant Kingfisher (Ceryle maxima). It is the largest of the kingfishers and also has a predominantly black and white body. Giant kingfishers are fairly rare, but occur along all the major rivers.

Despite the misleading common name, there are several species of kingfishers which do not hunt fish and are not found near rivers at all.

The Striped Kingfisher (Halcyon chelicati) occurs commonly throughout bushveld areas, generally perched quietly on a branch. Despite this nonchalant attitude it keeps a sharp lookout on the surrounding area, and every few minutes swoops from its perch to catch some insect blundering into view. Another common species often found in open bush, in summer, is the Woodland Kingfisher (H. senegalensis), its plumage shades of grey, black and blue. Like the striped kingfisher it swoops on insects in the vicinity and returns to its perch to kill and consume the prey.

Other species of kingfisher tend to be fairly rare and localized in their distribution. These include the half-collared kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, pygmy kingfisher, brown-hooded kingfisher and the grey-hooded kingfisher.

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