Giant kingfisher
- Megaceryle maximus
- IUCN Status: Least Concern
- Trend: decreasing
General Information
The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert, other than the arid southwest.
Description
The giant kingfisher is 42–46 cm long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly. The forest race M. m. gigantea is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than the nominate race, but the two forms intergrade along the forest edge zone.
The call is a loud wak wak wak.
Fun Facts
The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is the largest kingfisher in Africa.
Diet
This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught by diving from a perch.
Reproduction
In South Africa breeding takes place between September and January, in Zimbabwe from August to March, in Zambia March to April and in Liberia December to January.
The giant kingfisher is monogamous and a solitary breeder. The nest is a long horizontal tunnel that is excavated into a river bank by both sexes using their feet and bills. The entrance hole is 11 cm high and 15 cm wide. The tunnel is typically 2 m in length but a tunnel of 8.5 m has been recorded. A clutch of around three eggs is laid in a chamber at the end of the tunnel.
Conservation
It is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as, “Least Concern “.
Distribution and Habitat
It can be found in most of the African continent, south of the Sahara Desert and the arid southwest.
References
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- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Coraciiformes
- Family: Alcedinidae
- Subfamily: Cerylinae
- Genus: Megaceryle
