The name kingfisher often throws people off into believing that all members of this bird family feed on fish. This is most certainly not the case, as yes, some of them do, but a lot of them feed on other foods. They all feed on proteins and will hunt animals smaller than themselves. They are aggressive hunters and will overpower smaller creatures, catching them with their strong beaks, often holding them and beating them against a branch or rock to finish it off.

Kingfishers are found on six of the seven continents, only missing out on Antarctica. The largest of the family are on the Kookaburras, found on Australia. There are seventeen species of kingfishers found on the African continent, with ten of these found in Southern Africa. These ten species can be divided into three separate families and in this blog we are going to have a look at them and their differences.

The Pretty Boys

When it comes to the prettiest of the kingfishers, the award has to go the alcedinid kingfishers, which includes the half-collared, malachite and African pygmy kingfishers. As the name suggests, the pygmy is tiny and is the smallest of the kingfishers in the region. It is an intra-African migrant whilst the other two species are generally nomadic, following favorable conditions. They are all solitary, but are still monogamous and so pairs come together when breeding.

There are no sexual color differences between males and females and all species have blue feathers on the head, back and wings, with white or rust on the underparts. They all have very short legs and the legs of the malachite and Pygmy are red, whilst the half-collared has black legs. This is the same as with the beaks, although juveniles of the Pygmy and malachite also have black beaks. They are all very compact in their body build and flap their wings incredibly fast for rapid, direct flight.

They are all small aquatic kingfishers, but oddly enough, the pygmy will often be seen away from water as well. The malachite likes slow flowing waters where the half-collared prefers faster flowing rivers and even rapids. They will all catch small fish that are found close to the surface of the water. Pygmy’s will catch other small invertebrates away from the water whilst the other two will also take on small crabs if they can find it. Out of the three species, only the half-collared is known to go marine in its hunting. When food is caught, it is taken to a suitable perch where it is beaten to death before being swallowed. If it is a fish, it will always be swallowed head first.

When it comes to breeding time, the male will spend a week before feeding the female. They are very messy nesters and after a tunnel is dug by both parents, the nest can be lined with fish bones and faeces. It is very easy to see when an adult is taking a fish to the nest, as the fish will be held the wrong way around, with the head pointing outwards. This is so that when the meal is delivered, the chick can swallow it head first. Parents will use fish to lure the chicks out of the nest when they are old enough.

The Duller Chaps

The cerylid family of kingfishers has only got two individuals in it, the giant and pied kingfishers. Pied kingfishers are incredibly widespread and are even found as far as parts of the Asian coastline. They are the only of our kingfishers that have crests and not a single trace of blue in them. From their markings, we can also identify between males and females than other families. They, like the others, can move around dependent on rain, but seem to be a lot more permanent around large water courses, including dams, large rivers and estuaries.

They will always be found around water though, as their diet is made of fish and other small aquatic life. The pied kingfisher is one of only two birds that we get that can hover with no assistance from the wind (the other being a black-winged kite). They will hunt by hovering from a perch usually overhanging the water. As giants need wind to hover, they do not do it as often.

Where giants only seem to be territorial when they are breeding, pied seem to be far more territorial. They also sometimes live in small groups, which is uncommon for any of the other kingfishers. It has been found that these groups turn into co-operative breeding parties. All the birds will help feed chicks and sometimes other birds will even feed the breeding pair. These groups are usually made up of more males than females, either chicks from a previous season or completely unrelated males that have not found a mate themselves.

The inland dwellers

We have five species of kingfishers that represent the dacelonid family of kingfishers, including the striped, brown-hooded, mangrove, woodlands and grey-headed kingfishers. All of them are migrants except the striped, with the brown-hooded moving around locally and the other three being inertia-African breeding migrants.

We can also refer to this family of kingfishers as the dry-land family, as they are all usually found away from water and very seldom, if ever, feed on fish. They prefer invertebrates rather, as the woodlands have even been recorded eating other birds and bats. They will often sit on a concealed perch and fly down to catch something on the ground or hawk the unsuspecting victim in flight. They will then fly back to the perch where they will beat larger prey species to death before swallowing it. It does sometimes look like they are diving into water to catch things, but this is when they are bathing as they do so on the wing. After splashing themselves into water a few times, they will move to a branch to clean and preen.

All of these species are also monogamous, with only the striped and brown-hooded showing a very slight sexual dimorphism. When breeding, they are incredibly territorial and pairs will display, calling loudly and flashing colors to announce their presence. They will aggressively chase birds of their own and other species as well when breeding. Nest holes are excavated by grey-headed and brown-hooded whilst the other three will use old nest holes in trees. If they find a nest they want to use, they will chase off the occupants and even eat their small chicks if any are present. Honeyguides do get one back for other birds though, as they use these kingfishers as parents to raise their chicks.

Kingfishers are well known by many people, but are also misunderstood by many people. These noisy, aggressive hunters are more than just the beautiful fisherman than people think.

Photo credit : Anika Johnston