
Friday 25 January
Kingdom | Animalia |
Phylum | Chordata |
Class | Aves |
Order | Coraciiformes |
Family | Alcedinidae |
Genus | Halcyon (1) |
The grey-headed kingfisher is an insect-eating kingfisher with a silvery-grey head, nape and breast and a distinctive chestnut belly (3) (4) (5).The wing primaries are black, while the secondaries and the tail are cobalt-blue (3) (5). The straight, dagger shaped bill is bright orangey-red (3) (5) (6). Although the sexes are alike in appearance, immature birds tend to be duller and have a blackish bill and dark barring across the chest (3) (5).
Despite the name, the grey-headed kingfisher does not feed on fish, but instead thrives on a wide variety of insects, such as grasshoppers, cockroaches and beetles, and occasionally takes small vertebrates such as lizards (3) (8). Like other kingfishers, this species generally sits still on a perch, before diving steeply down to the ground in pursuit of prey (6) (8).
The nest, which is excavated by both sexes, consists of a tunnel up to a metre long, dug into a riverbank, gully or termite mound (2) (8). Egg-laying occurs between September and December, with three to four eggs incubated by both parent birds for around 20 days (8).
Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (1).
There are currently no known conservation measures in place for the grey-headed kingfisher. However, given its widespread distribution, it is likely to occur in numerous protected areas across its range (9).
To find out more about the conservation of African birds see:
For more information on this and other bird species please see:
Image credit
© Martin B Withers / www.flpa-images.co.uk
FLPA - images of nature
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