Street Dancer - Pied KF

Dear friends, hope you and your family are in the best of health, please take due care because the rainy season brings many more scope of illness along with rain. In current times we cannot afford any careless attitude hence take extra care and be safe.

It is a long gap now for trip reports and the new addition of species in my watch list so whenever I miss them I refer my photo repository to get a feel of old time. While going through the database I found this little exciting bird and quickly decided to publish the same in today’s blog

This little street dancer “Pied Kingfisher” is very cute bird and in my favorite list, let me open the facts one by one next section and update you on the story of why I name this bird as a dancing star.

Street Dancer

Pied Kingfisher is known for its hunting habit and the style of hunting is unique from all other Kingfisher birds in the family. The style of hunting is hovering prior to attacking the prey. It hovers for a while in the air for a while before locking the target or you can say it has finalized the target and because in happiness it dances in the air for a while and after hovering it immediately attack and get the fish right under its bill from the river.

The pied kingfisher is the largest of the ‘hovering’ birds. Hovering describes the ability to stay in one place while flying. It is just a matter of the time that it starts hovering and gets fish from the river; it is a very sharp and accurate attack on the target. They hunt by hovering 50-65 feet above the water and then diving headfirst (or rather, bill-first) into the water. Pied kingfishers demonstrate spectacular speed and agility on the hunt. Isn’t it amazing! Of course, it is and there are many more facts, which are equally interesting so let go to the next section to see other qualities of this litter bird. 

Fascinating Facts

Pied Kingfisher’s eyes have adapted to spot the exact position of fish from above. Once the kingfisher spots the prey, refractions in the water don’t affect its vision. It has the ability to correct according to refraction and react to sudden movements of its prey

It is the only black and white kingfisher. Males have a double black band across their breast and females have a black chest that is often broken with a white stripe in the middle

When perched they usually bob their heads and flick up their tail. They are fast-moving and fly at speeds of up to 50 km/hr

Pied kingfishers never hunt on land. Their diet consists predominantly of fish, with a few crustaceans on the side. Fish is their favorite meal; they can swallow their prey in mid-flight

They also eat small crustaceans, dragonfly larvae, mollusks, and frogs. The one definitive dietary rule is that their food is always aquatic

You Won’t Spot the Pied Kingfisher’s Nest in a Tree. Pied kingfishers make their nests close to water. They make them by digging out holes in vertical mud banks!  These peculiar nests are generally 4-5 feet deep

The King of Kingfishers, simply watching the pied kingfisher in action will demonstrate the array of superpowers that it has. It is a record-breaker, expert flier, skilled hunter and best of all – loves to socialize

Think of Pied Kingfishers as Mythical ‘Rude’ Birds. Rudis is the Latin word for ‘rude’ or ‘wild’. The ‘mythical wild’ is an appropriate name for a bird with almost fantastical hunting skills!

So many qualities and hardly few we know, I hope you liked the story of this street dancer, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Himachal Pradesh

The western Tragopan (Jujurana) or western horned Tragopan

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section