Kingfisher

Brightly coloured bird with large head, short tail feathers and long sharp dagger-shaped beak which enables it to catch fish, water insects and small crabs.

The kingfisher can dive from a branch or hover above the water before actually diving. His flight is fast and accurate. It is called an “ice bird”) in German, which has nothing to do with winter and frost, but with the colour of its feathers, which are often ice blue.

Apart from the shiny blue green markings on the upper part of its body, its cheeks are russet-coloured, and he has a white spot on his throat and neck. It can be found all over Europe (apart from the North) and in Africa, India and Indonesia, too.

It is rarely seen breeding, which it does near clearwater streams and pools. Both parents dig a nesting hole about 1 meter long and 5 cm high in spring, in cliffs or river banks. Both sexes breed. The 6 to 7 white eggs lie amidst fish bones which the parents have regurgitated. The chicks hatch after about three weeks and remain in the nest for about 4 weeks.