Pied Kingfisher - Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) - Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

I hadn't photographed a Pied Kingfisher until my last trip to Arugam Bay in July. I came across a pair of them hunting along a small waterway on the side of the road. They were making short flights out over the water and hovering for a while and returning to their perch on a telephone wire. Fortunately for me, they hovered for long enough for me to take a few photographs.

More inside.

 Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) - Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

Pied Kingfishers range from sub-Saharan Africa across to west Asia. The species found in Sri Lanka is considered to be a sub-species named leucomelanura. They are about 17cm in length and are white with a black mask. The males have a narrow second breast band while females have a broken breast band. The photographs above are of a male. It hunts by hovering over water to locate prey and then diving bill first to capture fish. 

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) - Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

These photographs were taken with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. The conditions were not ideal as the clouds were a very bright background for these flight shots. I also had to push the ISO up to be able to shoot photographs of the birds in flight. I'm hoping to get some better shots in the future but they are not too bad for a first effort.

White-throated Kingfisher

A White-throated Kingfisher photographed in Colombo

Amongst all the Kingfishers found in Sri Lanka, the White-throated Kingfisher is probably the most common. It frequents home gardens in urban areas and is often seen perched on telephone lines on the side of the road. More info and images after the jump.

A White-throated Kingfisher photographed in Anuradhapura

The White-throated Kingfisher is also known as the White-breasted Kingfisher or Smyrna Kingfisher. It is a widely distributed Tree Kingfisher which can be found from Bulgaria, east through South Asia up to the Philippines. It is a resident throughout this range but some populations are known to make short migrations. It is a large Kingfisher, measuring up to 28cm in length. It can be found in a variety of habitats, ranging from open country with trees, up to 7500 feet in the Himalayas. The White-throated Kingfisher is not considered to be threatened and its range is expanding.

A White-throated Kingfisher photographed in Colombo

It is often seen perched on wires or other exposed perches within its territory. It usually hunts reptiles, insects, rodents, snakes and fish. Predations of small birds have also been reported. The young are fed mostly on invertebrates.   

This species of Kingfisher begins breeding at the onset of monsoons. During the mating displays, males perch on high posts and call in the early hours of the morning. The wings are flicked open for a short period of time to expose the white wing mirrors. They also raise their bills high to expose their white throats and front. The nest is a tunnel in an earth bank and is usually around the 50cm mark in length. The nest building starts with both birds flying into the earth bank until they make an indentation which they can perch on. They then continue digging with their bills. A clutch consists of 4-7 white, round eggs which take 20 days to hatch. The chicks fledge in 19 days.

A White-throated Kingfisher photographed in Colombo

The images taken in Colombo were captured in our garden using a Canon 7D camera with a 100-400mm lens. I also sighted this bird in Trincomalee and Kandy during my last trip to Sri Lanka.

  

Common Kingfisher

The Common Kingfisher is found throughout Sri Lanka, although it is scarce at the highest elevations. It is not as common as the White-throated kingfisher but can be found at most village tanks (man made lake). More images and info inside. Click the images on this post to view larger versions.

It is easy to identify this species of Kingfisher due to its small size and overall blue plumage but may be confused with the extremely rare Blue-eared Kingfisher. The Chestnut coloured ear coverts differentiate the common Kingfisher from the Blue-eared Kingfisher. However, it must be noted that the Common Kingfisher can hide its ear coverts when it adopts a hunched pose. The female of the species is identical to the male except the female has an orange-red lower mandible.

The Common Kingfisher is widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is a common breeding species across most of its Eurasian range but is a winter visitor to North Africa. It inhabits clear, slow flowing streams and rivers with well vegitated banks. It frequents scrubs and bushes with overhanging branches from which it hunts.

The Common Kingfisher nests in a burrow, excavated by both birds, in a vertical riverbank.  The straight sometimes inclining burrow is usually 60-90 cm long and ends in an enlarged chamber. The nest cavity is unlined but soon collects a litter of fish remains. The Common Kingfisher typically lays five to seven eggs which are incubated by both sexes. Usually one or two eggs from a clutch fail to hatch as the parent can't cover them.

It hunts from a perch around one or two meters above the water with its bill pointing down as it looks for prey. Once prey is detected, it dives to seize the fish below the surface. The wings are open under water and the open eye is protected by a third eyelid. The bird then rises, beak first, and flies back to its perch. The Kingfisher then adjusts the fish in its beak so that it is held near the tail and then proceeds to beat it several times on the perch until the fish is dead. The fish is then swallowed head first.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kingfisher

I visited the Thalangama tank on a regular basis during December and January with the aim of capturing a couple of decent images of this bird. I was fortunate enough to identify a perch which was frequented by a Common Kingfisher within the first couple of visits and managed to get a number of shots using the car as a hide. However, I wasn't too happy with these images as they needed to be cropped. I had to get closer to it. On my next visit, I waited until the bird had its back turned to me and got out of the car and moved closer on foot pausing whenever the bird looked in my direction. I managed to get within fifteen feet of the bird and captured the shots above. They have not been cropped. I was using the 100-400mm lens on the 7D.  

Stork-Billed Kingfisher

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Despite this kingfisher's distinctive call and the fact that it is not rare, I had not seen it in the wild for a number of years.

Therefore, I was quite surprised when I heard that it had started frequenting our garden in the heart of Colombo. As my luck would have it, I was in Sydney at the time and was not scheduled to head back to Colombo until December.

When I did finally get back to Colombo, the bird did not disappoint. It took only a couple of days before the kingfisher made an appearance. I heard it calling one afternoon and found it perched on a branch less than 10 feet from my bedroom window. The brid gave me plenty of time to get my gear and shoot twenty shots before it flew off.

This is the largest of Sri Lanka's Kingfishers. An adult is between 38-40cm.