The Sunday News
Know Your Wildlife Farai Musiyandaka Natural History Museum
Ndebele: Isiquba — Shona: Chinyurirahove
Introduction
THE Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a kingfisher in the near passerine bird family Cerylidae, or the water kingfishers. It is the only member of the genus Ceryle. There are two more kingfisher families within the taxonomic order, Coraciiformes: these are the Alcedinidae, or river kingfishers, and the tree or wood kingfishers, in the family Halcyonidae. The Pied Kingfisher is apparently unique among kingfishers, having a bony plate that slides across their eyes when the bird hits the water.
Description:
The Pied Kingfisher has black and white plumage and it is impossible to confuse this medium-sized bird with other kingfishers.
Males have black crest and crown, white stripe above the eye, black larger stripe across the eye extending on nape, and white throat and collar.
Upperparts are black with white edges giving a mottled aspect. Rump is streaked black and white and white spots on the wing, coverts can also be seen.
Under parts are white, finely barred with two black lines, the higher being broader and often broken in the middle. The bill is black, long and similar to a dagger.
Eyes are dark brown, legs and feet are blackish. Females have only one breast band, narrower than males and also broken in the middle. The young resembles the females, but it has complete breast band, rather greyish-black than black. It has some blackish “scales” on the white areas, and on the head, neck and throat. In flight, the fanned tail is rather long, white, with black median tail feathers and tips.
Voice
Pied Kingfisher’s typical call is a loud, penetrating and repeated “kwik” or “kik”, and a high-pitched “TREEtiti TREEtiti” sound.
Habitat
The Pied Kingfisher lives close to the water, near large rivers, in estuaries, near small and large lakes, coastal lagoons, on rocky and sandy coasts, close to fresh or salty water tanks. It needs perches close to water such as trees, fences and posts.
Behaviour
The Pied Kingfisher has a complex behaviour. As in many tropical birds a breeding pair has several non-breeding birds as helpers, up to four. These helpers may be the young of the previous year or be completely exterior to the pair family. This system makes it possible to raise the greatest number of young within the colony, in spite of the environment. It nests alone or in colonies, usually less than 20 nests.
It fishes by watching for prey from a perch, bobbing head and flicking tail, and then by diving into the water making shower of water, and appearing again with its stabbed prey in the bill. It also may hover to locate prey. When back on its perch, it strikes the prey, then it returns to its perch to swallow.
The Pied Kingfisher is usually inactive. Seasonal dispersions are abundant, but it is mainly according to the food resources, rather regular migrations.
Flight
Pied Kingfisher hovers when searching for prey above water. This behaviour allows hunting over large water surfaces, being the only kingfisher able to move away from the shores. Usually, it performs a rather slow flight, often high above the water, before diving to catch its prey.
Reproduction
The Pied Kingfisher is a monogamous co-operative breeder, which means that the breeding pair is assisted by other birds. Primary helpers are usually one- year-old offspring of the breeding pair, and help with incubation, the caring of the chicks and the defending of their territory. Secondary helpers usually appear after the chicks have hatched and are initially rejected by the breeding pair, playing a lesser role than the primary helpers. Secondary helpers are unmated adults, due to failed breeding attempts. They also have reduced testosterone levels and small testes, rendering them incapable of mating again.
The nesting site is excavated into a vertical sandbank by both sexes, and consists of a 0,8-1,2 metre long tunnel, leading to a 20-30 centimetre wide chamber. It digs by stabbing with its open bill, interspersed with kicking out sand with its feet.
Egg-laying season is from July-April in Zimbabwe, and it lays 1-7, usually four to six eggs, which are incubated mainly by the female for about 18 days. The chicks stay in the nest for 24-29 days, after which they learn to hunt. At 38-43 days old, they can dive and eat for themselves, but they only become fully independent one to two months after fledging. They reach their sexual maturity at one year.
Diet
Pied Kingfisher feeds mainly on fish, aquatic insects, crabs and crayfish, frogs, molluscs and also supplemented with invertebrates like dragonflies, crickets and grasshoppers. It often uses the hovering technique for catching fish, searching for prey from a high vantage point in the air, then diving straight down into the water to grab the prey item. It immediately flies back to its perch, where it beats the prey to death then swallows it.
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