Giant Kingfisher
Megaceryle maxima
A massive, chunky, black, white, and chestnut kingfisher with a huge dagger-like black bill and a small crest. Sexes differ in the location of chestnut plumage: upper breast on the male, belly and underwings on the female. Pairs patrol freshwater rivers, lakes and swamps, and saltwater estuaries, mangroves and coastlines, hunting for fish, crabs, frogs and invertebrates. Draws attention to itself with raucous harsh and rapidly repeated “kek” and “kakh” calls.
Identification
The giant kingfisher is 42–46 cm (16.5–18 in) long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly. The forest race M. m. gigantea is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than the nominate race, but the two forms intergrade along the forest edge zone.<p>The call is a loud wak wak wak.
Taxonomy
The first formal description of the giant kingfisher was by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1769 under the binomial name Alcedo maxima. The current genus Megaceryle was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848.<p>There are two subspecies:<p>The nominate subspecies M. m. maxima occurs in wooded savanna while M. m. gigantea prefers tropical rainforest.
- Scientific name
- Megaceryle maxima
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1769)
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Alcedinidae
- Genus
- Megaceryle
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
In South Africa breeding takes place between September and January, in Zimbabwe from August to March, in Zambia March to April and in Liberia December to January.<p>The giant kingfisher is monogamous and a solitary breeder. The nest is a long horizontal tunnel that is excavated into a river bank by both sexes using their feet and bills. The entrance hole is 11 cm (4.3 in) high and 15 cm (5.9 in) wide. The tunnel is typically 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length but a tunnel of 8.5 m (28 ft) has been recorded. A clutch of around three eggs is laid in a chamber at the end of the tunnel.<p>This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught by diving from a perch.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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