Kingfisher

thumb|The [[paradise kingfishers of New Guinea have unusually long tails for the group.]]

thumb|right|The [[kookaburra has a call which sounds like laughter.]]

thumb|Like many forest-living kingfishers, the [[yellow-billed kingfisher often nests in arboreal termite nests.]]

thumb|The [[black-backed dwarf kingfisher is considered a bad omen by warriors of the Dusun tribe of Borneo.]]

thumb|[[Forest kingfisher in Queensland ]]

Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution: most species live in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but they can also be found in Europe and the Americas. They can be found in deep forests near calm ponds and small rivers. The family contains 118 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests.

They consume a wide range of prey, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, many species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. Some kingfishers nest in arboreal termite nests. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word "kingfisher" normally refers to the common kingfisher.

Taxonomy, systematics and evolution

The kingfisher family Alcedinidae is in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the motmots, bee-eaters, todies, rollers, and ground-rollers. It is divided into three subfamilies, the tree kingfishers (Halcyoninae), the river kingfishers (Alcedininae), and the water kingfishers (Cerylinae). The name Daceloninae is sometimes used for the tree kingfisher subfamily but it was introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1841 while Halcyoninae introduced by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825 is earlier and has priority. A few taxonomists elevate the three subfamilies to family status. In spite of the word "kingfisher" in their English vernacular names, many of these birds are not specialist fish-eaters; none of the species in Halcyoninae are.

The scientific name is derived from Greek mythology and the ancient belief that the birds nested in the open sea: the Greeks called them halkyons (Latin halcyon) from hals (sea) and kyon (born). In Greek mythology the gods gave the halkyons the ability to calm the waters when nesting. In Greek mythology, one of the Pleiades named Alcyone (Alcedo in Latin) married Ceyx who was killed in a shipwreck. Alcyone drowned herself in grief and the gods revived them both as kingfishers. The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

The centre of kingfisher diversity is the Australasian realm, but the group originated in the Indomalayan region around 27 million years ago (Mya) and invaded the Australasian realm a number of times. Fossil kingfishers have been described from Lower Eocene rocks in Wyoming and Middle Eocene rocks in Germany, around 30–40 Mya. More recent fossil kingfishers have been described in the Miocene rocks of Australia (5–25 Mya). Several fossil birds have been erroneously ascribed to the kingfishers, including Halcyornis, from the Lower Eocene rocks in Kent, which has also been considered a gull, but is now thought to have been a member of an extinct family.

The following cladogram is based on a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2017. In most species, sexual dimorphism is limited. When clear distinctions do occur, size differences between the sexes generally remain minimal.

The kingfishers have long, dagger-like bills. The bill is usually longer and more compressed in species that hunt fish, and shorter and more broad in species that hunt prey off the ground. The largest and most atypical bill is that of the shovel-billed kookaburra, which is used to dig through the forest floor in search of prey. They generally have short legs, although species that feed on the ground have longer tarsi. Most species have four toes, three of which are forward-pointing and fused towards the base ("syndactyl") to some extent.

The irises of most species are dark brown. The kingfishers have excellent vision; they are capable of binocular vision and are thought in particular to have good colour vision. They have restricted movement of their eyes within the eye sockets, instead using head movements to track prey. In addition, they are capable of compensating for the refraction of water and reflection when hunting prey underwater, and are able to judge depth under water accurately. They also have nictitating membranes that cover the eyes to protect them when they hit the water; the pied kingfisher has a bony plate, which slides across the eye when it hits the water. Kingfishers usually hunt from an exposed perch; when a prey item is observed, the kingfisher swoops down to snatch it, then returns to the perch. Kingfishers of all three families beat larger prey against a perch to kill the prey and to dislodge or break protective spines and bones. Having beaten the prey, it is manipulated and then swallowed. The shovel-billed kookaburra uses its massive, wide bill as a shovel to dig for worms in soft mud.

Ein Eisvogel im Schwebflug.jpg|Common kingfisher hovering

Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) female composite.jpg|Giant kingfisher breaking spine of tilapia fish

Pied kingfisher killing fish.jpg|Pied kingfisher killing a fish

Kingfisher pellet - 2020-02-02 - Andy Mabbett - 02 (cropped).jpg|Pellet of a common kingfisher

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Breeding

Kingfishers are territorial, some species defending their territories vigorously. They are generally monogamous, although cooperative breeding has been observed in some species and is quite common in others,

Like all Coraciiformes, the kingfishers are cavity nesters, as well as tree nesters, with most species nesting in holes dug in the ground. These holes are usually in earth banks on the sides of rivers, lakes or man-made ditches. Some species may nest in holes in trees, the earth clinging to the roots of an uprooted tree, or arboreal nests of termites (termitarium). The use of termite nests is common in forest species. The nests take the form of a small chamber at the end of a tunnel. Nest-digging duties are shared between the sexes. During the initial excavations, the bird may fly at the chosen site with considerable force, and birds have injured themselves fatally while doing this. The length of the tunnels varies by species and location; nests in termitaria are necessarily much shorter than those dug into the earth, and nests in harder substrates are shorter than those in soft soil or sand. The longest tunnels recorded are those of the giant kingfisher, which have been found to be long.

Relationship with humans

Kingfishers are generally shy birds, but in spite of this, they feature heavily in human culture, generally due to the large head supporting its powerful mouth, their bright plumage, or some species' interesting behavior.

For the Dusun people of Borneo, the oriental dwarf kingfisher is considered a bad omen, and warriors who see one on the way to battle should return home. Another Bornean tribe considers the banded kingfisher an omen bird, albeit generally a good omen.

Modern taxonomy also refers to the winds and sea in naming kingfishers after a classical Greek myth. The first pair of the mythical-bird Halcyon (kingfishers) were created from a marriage of Alcyone and Ceyx. As gods, they lived the sacrilege of referring to themselves as Zeus and Hera. They died for this, but the other gods, in an act of compassion, made them into birds, thus restoring them to their original seaside habitat. In addition, special "halcyon days" were granted. These are the seven days on either side of the winter solstice when storms shall never again occur for them. The Halcyon birds' "days" were for caring for the winter-hatched clutch (or brood), but the phrase "Halcyon days" also refers specifically to an idyllic time in the past, or in general to a peaceful time. In another version, a woman named Alcyone was cast into the waves by her father for her promiscuity and was turned into a kingfisher.

Various kinds of kingfishers and human cultural artifacts are named after the couple, in reference to this metamorphosis myth:

The genus Ceyx (within the river kingfishers family) is named after him.
The kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae (tree kingfishers) is named after his wife, as is the genus Halcyon.
The belted kingfisher's specific name (Megaceryle alcyon) also references her name.

Not all the kingfishers are named in this way. The etymology of kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is obscure; the term comes from "king's fisher", but why that name was applied is not known.

Taxonomy, systematics and evolution

Breeding

Relationship with humans

References

Sources

External links