Kingfisher - Alcedo atthis

The bright colours of the kingfisher make it unmistakable. It is a shy bird that is often only seen as a blue streak as it flies low to water along rivers and streams.

Habitat

They inhabit most types of fresh water, including ponds, lakes, canals, rivers and streams.

Description

The Kingfishers upperparts are a bright iridescent blue that has light blue flecks in the crown. Its underparts are bright orange, including its legs and feet. There are also orange and white patches on its cheeks, and it has a white throat. The wings and tail are short, and its bill is long and pointed.

The only difference between males and females is in the colouring of the bills, the bill in both sexes is very long, but the female bill has a red base, whereas the males are completely black. The young have a duller and greener plumage than the adults.

Biology

Kingfishers can be seen all year round, mainly in the early evening or mornings. Listen out for its call, a loud a shrill and piping 'cheee'.

They feed on fish and invertebrates that are first spotted from their convenient (and favourite) perch of a branch over the water (they do sometimes hover over the water if there isn’t a convenient perch); this can make it hard to see in the shade of the riverbank. They then plunge, beak first, into the water to catch their prey. The kingfisher has to rely on memory to predict where the fish will be after it has entered the water and will sometimes return to the surface with an empty beak if it’s wrong. After it has caught a fish it will fly back to its perch with the fish in its beak and will beat the fish against its perch to kill it and then consume it head-first. Kingfishers will regurgitate pellets containing accumulated indigestible material such as fish bones.

Courtship begins in spring with the male offering the female a fish, he will hold the fish in his beak with the head facing outwards and attempt to feed it to the female. The first few attempts are usually unsuccessful and he will have to eat the fish himself.

A nest is built in a tunnel excavated in the side of a riverbank, often around the roots of a tree; at the end of the tunnel is a chamber where the eggs are laid on the bare earth. Up to six eggs are laid in April – May and both parents incubate the eggs. After around 21days the young hatch, after another 27 days the young are ready to fledge.

Threats

Until the late 1980s the Kingfisher went through a decline in range and population, although it now seems to be recovering. It is vulnerable to very harsh winters as when the water freezes the Kingfisher is unable to feed.

Conservation

The Kingfisher is fully protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and is also included in the Birds of Conservation Concern Amber List.