The pied kingfisher, scientific name Ceryle rudis is a species of water kingfisher extensively distributed throughout Africa and Asia. Initially described by Linnaeus in 1758, it has 5 recognized subspecies.
Pied kingfisher facts
This article will give an overview of pied kingfisher habitat, facts, bird, flying, size, trail, Sri Lanka, India, UK, and Hovering, etc.
Its black and white plumage and crest, in addition to its behavior of hovering over clear lakes and rivers earlier than diving for fish, make it distinctive.
Males pied kingfisher have a double band throughout the breast, whereas females have a single gorget that’s usually damaged within the center.
They’re normally present in pairs or small household teams. When perched, they usually bob their head and flick up their tail.
Description
It is a medium-sized kingfisher, about 25 cm (9.8 in) long with a white with a black mask, a white supercilium, and black breast bands.
The crest of the pied kingfisher is neat and the upper parts are barred in black. A number of subspecies are acknowledged throughout the broad distribution. The nominate race is present in sub-Saharan Africa, extending into West Asia.
The subspecies syriacus is a bigger northern chook much like the nominated subspecies (following Bergmann’s rule).
Subspecies leucomelanura is discovered from Afghanistan east into India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Laos.
The subspecies travancoreensis of the Western Ghats is darker with the white diminished. The subspecies C. r. insignis is present in Hainan and southeastern China and has a lot of bigger bills. Males have a slim second breast band whereas females have a single damaged breast band.
Distribution
It is not uncommon all through sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia from Turkey to India to China. It’s resident, and most birds don’t migrate, aside from short-distance seasonal actions.
In India, it’s distributed primarily on the plains and is changed within the larger hills of the Himalayas by the crested kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris).
The pied kingfisher is estimated to be one of many three most quite a few kingfishers on the earth; the opposite two are the frequent kingfisher and collared kingfisher. It’s a noisy chook, making it exhausting to overlook.
Pied kingfisher Behavior
When perched the pied kingfisher usually bobs its heads up and down and can generally elevate its tail and flick it downwards.
It calls usually with sharp chirruk chirruk notes. Not like some kingfishers, it’s fairly gregarious and types massive roosts at night time.
Pied kingfisher Feeding
This kingfisher feeds primarily on fish, though it would take crustaceans and enormous aquatic bugs reminiscent of dragonfly larvae.
It normally hunts by hovering over the water to detect prey and diving vertically bill-first to seize fish. When not foraging, it has a straight speedy flight and has been noticed flying at practically 50 km/h.
In Lake Victoria in East Africa, the introduction of the Nile perch diminished the provision of haplochromine cichlids which had been previously the popular prey of those birds.
It may possibly take care of prey without returning to a perch, usually swallowing small prey in flight, and so can hunt over massive water our bodies or in estuaries that lack perches which can be required by different kingfishers.
Pied kingfisher Breeding
The breeding season is February to April. Its nest is a gap excavated in a vertical mud financial institution about 5 ft above the water.
The nest tunnel is 4 to 5 ft deep and ends in a chamber. A number of birds could nest in the same neighborhoods. The standard clutch is three to 6 white eggs.
The pied kingfisher generally reproduces cooperatively, with younger non-breeding birds from an earlier brood aiding mother and father and even unrelated older birds.
In India, nestlings have been discovered to be vulnerable to maggot infestations (most likely by Protocalliphora sp.) and in some areas to leeches. Nest holes could generally be used for roosting.
In 1947, British zoologist Hugh B. Cott seen whereas skinning birds that hornets had been drawn to sure birds however averted the flesh of pied kingfishers.
This led to a comparative examination of the edibility of birds and he advised that extra conspicuously plumaged birds could also be much less palatable.
This suggestion was, nevertheless, not supported by a subsequent reanalysis of his information.
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