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Alcedo atthis
4-565.51.00English: Common kingfisher; Eurasian kingfisher; River kingfisher.
Synonym: Gracula atthis.
Name: from the Latin alcedo meaning kingfisher, and Atthis, a beautiful young woman of Lesbos.
Genus: 7 species.
Region: Eurasia; North Africa; resident mostly, but migrates where rivers freeze.
Habitat: near rivers.ZoologyBird; small, sparrow-sized bird, 16 cm long, 25 cm wingspan; 34 to 46 g weight.
Build: short-tailed; large-headed; dumpy-bodied; long bill.
Color: blue upperparts, orange underparts; pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base; legs and feet bright red; female has lower mandible orange-red with a black tip; juvenile has greener upperparts and paler underparts.
Food: mainly fish, caught by diving; has special visual adaptations to see under water.
Moult: gradually between July and November.
Reproduction: glossy white eggs; nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.
Motion: flight is fast, direct and usually low over water; short, rounded wings whirr rapidly, showing an electric-blue "flash" down its back.
Sound: song lacking; call is a short, sharp whistle chee repeated two or three times; harsh, shrit-it-i when anxious; churring noise form nestlings to call for food.
Synonym: Gracula atthis.
Name: from the Latin alcedo meaning kingfisher, and Atthis, a beautiful young woman of Lesbos.
Genus: 7 species.
Region: Eurasia; North Africa; resident mostly, but migrates where rivers freeze.
Habitat: near rivers.ZoologyBird; small, sparrow-sized bird, 16 cm long, 25 cm wingspan; 34 to 46 g weight.
Build: short-tailed; large-headed; dumpy-bodied; long bill.
Color: blue upperparts, orange underparts; pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base; legs and feet bright red; female has lower mandible orange-red with a black tip; juvenile has greener upperparts and paler underparts.
Food: mainly fish, caught by diving; has special visual adaptations to see under water.
Moult: gradually between July and November.
Reproduction: glossy white eggs; nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.
Motion: flight is fast, direct and usually low over water; short, rounded wings whirr rapidly, showing an electric-blue "flash" down its back.
Sound: song lacking; call is a short, sharp whistle chee repeated two or three times; harsh, shrit-it-i when anxious; churring noise form nestlings to call for food.