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More About Kingfishers ...
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Kingfishers are birds of the three closely related families Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water or belted kingfishers). There are about 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. They are found throughout the world.
The taxonomy of the three families is complex and rather controversial. Although commonly assigned to the order Coraciiformes, from this level down confusion sets in.
The kingfishers were traditionally treated as one family, Alcedinidae with three subfamilies, but following the 1990s revolution in bird taxonomy, the three former subfamilies are now usually elevated to familial level; a move supported by chromosome and DNA-DNA hybridisation studies, but challenged on the grounds that all three groups are monophyletic with respect to the other Coraciiformes; which leads to them being grouped as the suborder Alcedines.
The tree kingfishers have been previously given the familial name Dacelonidae but Halcyonidae has priority.
Kingfishers live in both woodland and water. The Laughing Kookaburra, at 45 cm the world's largest kingfisher, is a woodland bird, while the European Kingfisher Alcedo atthis is always found near fresh water.
Kingfishers that live near water hunt small fish by diving. They also eat crayfish, frogs, and insects. Wood kingfishers eat reptiles. Kingfishers of all three families beat their prey to death, either by whipping it against a tree or by dropping it on a stone.
The Old World tropics and Australasia are the core area for this group. Europe and North America are very poorly represented with only one common kingfisher, (European and Belted Kingfishers respectively), and a couple of uncommon or very local species each: (Ringed Kingfisher and Green Kingfisher in the SE USA, Pied Kingfisher and White-breasted Kingfisher in SE Europe).
Even tropical South America has only five species plus wintering Belted Kingfisher. In comparison, the tiny African country of The Gambia has eight resident species in its 120 by 20 mile area.
The six species occurring in the Americas are four closely related green kingfishers in the genus Chloroceryle, and two large crested kingfishers in the genus Megaceryle, suggesting that the sparse representaion in the western hemisphere evolved from just two original colonising species.
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Taxonmony
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Phylum: chordata
Class: aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family:
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Source: Wikipedia Read more about Kingfishers
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VIDEO CLIPS
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Kingfisher
1.410MB MOV View Movie
Tropical Ecosystems of Costa Rica and Panama (R. Hays Cummins, Miami University)
A Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) along the banks of the Tempisque River, Palo Verde.
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Kingfisher
0.000MB MOV View Movie
Getty Images
Kingfisher
If you don't see the relevant video below, please follow this link and search for dv620027 in the search screen.
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Kingfisher
0.000MB MOV View Movie
Getty Images
Kingfisher with fish
If you don't see the relevant video below, please follow this link and search for dv620028 in the search screen.
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Pied Kingfisher
0.000MB MOV View Movie
Getty Images
black + white pied kingfisher hovering then diving
If you don't see the relevant video below, please follow this link and search for 441-71 in the search screen.
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Pied Kingfisher
0.000MB MOV View Movie
Getty Images
black + white pied kingfisher hovering then diving
If you don't see the relevant video below, please follow this link and search for 441-70 in the search screen.
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Belted Kingfisher
0.390MB RM View Movie
Mangoverde World Bird Guide
High quality video clip by William Hull. Bird is sitting on branch.
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Kingfisher
MOV View Movie
Arkive.org
Nice selection of Kingfisher video clips available in various formats
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Kingfisher
4.950MB MOV View Movie
Tropical Ecosystems of Costa Rica and Panama (R. Hays Cummins, Miami University)
An Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) along the banks of the Tempisque River, Palo Verde.
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Kingfisher
AVI View Movie
Offwell Woodland & Wildlife Trust
Kingfisher Feeding
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Kingfisher
0.620MB AVI View Movie
Offwell Woodland & Wildlife Trust
Kingfisher feeding her young
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Common Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A female on a post, with a fish in her beak. Ligneuville, Belgium (ssp ispida).
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Common Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A male preening itself. Ligneuville, Belgium (ssp ispida).
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Brown-hooded Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
An adult perched on a branch. Mkuze, South Africa (ssp. albiventris).
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Brown-hooded Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
An adult perched on a branch. Mkuzi Game Reserve, Mkuze, South Africa (ssp. albiventris).
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Giant Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A female with food in the beak. Okavango, Namibia
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Giant Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A female with food in the beak. Okavango, Namibia
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Pied Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A female perched on a branch. Okavango Delta, Botswana (ssp rudis)
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Pied Kingfisher
WMV View Movie
Internet Bird Collection
A female with a fish in its beak banging it against a branch. Okavango Delta, Botswana (ssp rudis)
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Kingfisher
0.860MB MOV View Movie
Creatas
Kingfisher preening on branch
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Kingfisher
0.860MB MOV View Movie
Creatas
Kingfisher with fish in it's beak
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Belted Kingfisher
MOV View Movie
Pat's Backyard BirdCam
Belted Kingfisher, female
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Common Kingfisher
AVI View Movie
Vogelkundliche Beobachtungsstation Untermain e.V. Frankfurt am Main
Das Wasser spritzt auf, und der Eisvogel hat bei diesem dritten Versuch Erfolg
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