Often perches quietly in trees over water; most often seen in very fast low flight as a turquoise flash over the water, usually flying away. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); © 2011 beautyofbirds.com - All Rights Reserved. It is even able to dive straight through thin ice after a fish. Very few birds live longer than one breeding season. Alcedo atthis taprobana. They will battle another Kingfisher if they invade their territories, and each will attempt to hold the other’s beak under water. Two broods, sometimes three, may be reared in a season. Its features are typical of most Kingfishers: a short tail, large head in profile, and a long, sturdy bill. Four days later they make their first dive. The juvenile is similar to the adult, but with duller and greener upperparts and paler underparts. These are the seven days on either side of the winter solstice when storms shall never again occur for them. It has a blue ear-patch and is more purple-tinged than A. a. hispidoides, with which it interbreeds. The kingfishers have long, dagger-like bills. : Alcedinidae [Ornithologie] : Alcedinidae [Ornithologi. A few times each day, a small greyish pellet of fish bones and other indigestible remains is regurgitated. At the perch the fish is adjusted until it is held near its tail and beaten against the perch several times. Persecution by anglers and to provide feathers for fishing flies were common in earlier decades, but are now largely a thing of the past. Photo credit: Francis Yap . In Thai: นกกะเต็นน้อยธรรมดา, nok kraten noi thammadaa Binomial name: Alcedo atthis, Carolus Linnaeus, 1758 The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. For these reasons, the species is evaluated as "least concern". Its upperparts are bright blue, not green-blue; it is the same size as A. a. bengalensis. As gods, they lived the sacrilege of referring to themselves as Zeus and Hera. Common Kingfisher at Satay by the Bay. While they are often associated with rivers and lakes, over half the world's species are found in forests and forested streams. Der Eisvogel (Alcedo atthis) ist die einzige in Mitteleuropa vorkommende Art aus der Familie der Eisvögel (Alcedinidae). Common kingfisher is small kingfisher with wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. The smallest species of kingfisher is the African dwarf kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei), which averages 10 cm (3.9 in) in length and between 9 and 12 g (0.32 and 0.42 oz) in weight. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. It is about 16 cm long with a wingspan of 25 cm, and weighs 34 - 46 g. The female is identical in appearance to the male except that her lower mandible is orange-red with a black tip. Resident breeder from Sulawesi to New Guinea and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. Like all kingfishers, the common kingfisher is highly territorial; since it must eat around 60% of its body weight each day, it is essential to have control of a suitable stretch of river. Common kingfishers live year round in the south, while northern populations fly south in winter away from the freezing water. In Central Europe, however, fish represented 99.9% of the diet (data from rivers, streams, and reservoirs from years 1999 to 2013). Resident breeder in Sri Lanka and southern India. Range: Breeds in south and east Asia from India to Indonesia, China, Korea, Japan and eastern Mongolia; winters south to Indonesia and the Philippines. The food is mainly fish up to 12.5 cm long, but the average size is 2.3 cm. A. a. floresiana Sharpe, 1892. [10], The eggs of kingfishers are invariably white. Many young will not have learned to fish by the time they are driven out of their parents' territory, and only about half survive more than a week or two. Europe and North America north of Mexico are very poorly represented, with only one common kingfisher (common kingfisher and belted kingfisher, respectively), and a couple of uncommon or very local species each: (ringed kingfisher and green kingfisher in the southwestern United States, pied kingfisher and white-throated kingfisher in southeastern Europe). The common kingfisher's closest relative is the cerulean kingfisher that has white underparts and is found in parts of Indonesia. Take Merlin with you in the field! When a Common Kingfisher dives after a meal, it will plunge into the water, creating a V shape with its wings folded backwards, and often it will be completely submerged. The Common Kingfishers prefer to inhabit a temperate climate and will migrate after breeding season to more favorable conditions as cold weather approaches. A. im Range: Resident breeder in the Solomon Islands east to San Cristobal. In areas with warmer temperatures, the Common Kingfishers inhabit clear, slow-flowing streams, rivers, mangrove creeks, swamps and lakes which are surrounded by copious amounts of vegetation. Definition Eisvogel: Das Substantiv Englische Grammatik. If another kingfisher enters its territory, both birds display from perches, and fights may occur, in which a bird will grab the other's beak and try to hold it underwater. It has even been known to dive into a layer of thin ice to capture a fish below the surface! P. F. Woodall Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020 Text last updated February 17, 2014 Range: Breeds from south Norway, Ireland and Spain to western Russia and Romania and winters south to southern Portugal and Iraq. Global population trends have not been quantified, but populations appear to be stable so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). When they leave the nest they differ little from their parents, except that the colors are duller, the spot on the neck is buff, and the grey margins to the breast feathers give a mottled appearance. Alcedo atthis salomonensis. Several fossil birds have been erroneously ascribed to the kingfishers, including Halcyornis, from the Lower Eocene rocks in Kent, which has also been considered a gull, but is now thought to have been a member of an extinct family. They nest on their own. [3][4] It is divided into three subfamilies, the tree kingfishers (Halcyoninae), the river kingfishers (Alcedininae) and the water kingfishers (Cerylinae). The largest and most atypical bill is that of the shovel-billed kookaburra, which is used to dig through the forest floor in search of prey.