Malachite Kingfisher

Fascinating facts about the Malachite Kingfisher

• Five subspecies of the malachite kingfisher pepper the continent, each anchored to a distinct region: C. c. galeritus spans Senegal to Ghana, C. c. nais lives on Príncipe island, C. c. thomensis inhabits São Tomé, C. c. cristatus ranges from Nigeria eastward to Kenya and south to South Africa, and C. c. stuartkeithi occupies eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. The species remains one of Africa's most widespread kingfishers.
• Both parents dig a tunnel into a sandy bank, usually over water, and most burrows slope upward before reaching the nesting chamber. They lay three or four clutches each breeding season, with each clutch holding three to six round, white eggs that sit on a litter of fish bones and disgorged pellets.
• A 2007 molecular phylogenetic study showed the malachite kingfisher's closest living cousin is the Malagasy kingfisher (Corythornis vintsioides), despite the latter's preference for drier habitats and a black bill. retaining similar plumage and hunting tactics while diverging in habitat use.
• The malachite kingfisher thrives in reeds and aquatic vegetation beside slow-moving water or ponds, spreading across Sub-Saharan Africa but steering clear of the continent's driest zones in Somalia, Kenya, Namibia and Botswana. Its rapid, low-over-water flight with blurred, rounded wings.
• At just 13 cm long, the malachite kingfisher is, yet individuals in Southern Africa average 14 cm while those in East Africa and Ethiopia shrink to 12 cm. bright red legs.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Malachite Kingfisher

In the lush, vibrant realms of tropical wetlands, the Malachite Kingfisher flits with iridescent splendor, its emerald feathers glimmering like polished jade as it darts between sun-dappled reeds and lotus blooms. With a swift, agile flight, this diminutive monarch of the waterside navigates its domain with effortless precision, its bright, inquisitive eyes ever-vigilant for the fish and crustaceans that sustain it. As it alights upon a slender branch, its crest a-glint in the sunlight, the Malachite Kingfisher embodies the very essence of its surroundings, a living, breathing embodiment of the African wetlands' untamed beauty.

Malachite Kingfisher photographed on Feravox

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