A beautiful, striking bird, the kingfisher is a master of fishing. Both male and female kingfishers have a colourful plumage with orange undersides and a blue back, head and wings. Kingfishers are small birds only growing to around 16.5cm in length.
Kingfishers like living by streams and rivers with overhanging branches and steep banks.
The kingfisher is an excellent predator of small fish. It can adjust its dive to take into account the refraction of light at the surface of the water. The kingfisher uses its strong pointed beak as a digging tool to dig a nesting burrow in the steep stream banks. It then uses its sharp claws to scrape out the loosened material.
Carnivore - The kingfisher eats small fish as well as crustaceans and water insects.
Kingfishers can suffer when water freezes or dries out. They are particularly vulnerable to changes in the fish population of rivers and streams. To increase their chances of survival they often have more than two broods per year.