Kingfisher Images (Beautiful)

Kingfisher images - Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. The group is treated either as a single family, the Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). Roughly 90 species of kingfishers are described. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with few differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey, as well as fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, most species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A quarter of all kingfishers nest in abandoned termite nests. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word "kingfisher" normally refers to the common kingfisher. (Wikipedia)

Image Source: pixabay.com, wikipedia.org

Kingfisher Images

Images of Kingfisher

The smallest species of kingfisher is the African dwarf kingfisher (Ispidina lecontei), which averages 10.4 g (0.37 oz) in weight and 10 cm (3.9 in) in length. The largest overall is the giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima), at an average of 355 g (12.5 oz) and 45 cm (18 in). However, the familiar Australian kingfisher known as the laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) may be the heaviest species, since individuals exceeding 450 g (0.99 lb) are not rare.
The plumage of most kingfishers is bright, with green and blue being the most common colours. The brightness of the colours is neither the product of iridescence (except in the American kingfishers) or pigments, but is instead caused by the structure of the feathers, which causes scattering of blue light (the Tyndall effect). In most species, no overt differences between the sexes exist; when differences occur, they are quite small (less than 10%).
The kingfishers have long, dagger-like bills. The bill is usually longer and more compressed in species that hunt fish, and shorter and more broad in species that hunt prey off the ground. The largest and most atypical bill is that of the shovel-billed kookaburra, which is used to dig through the forest floor in search of prey. They generally have short legs, although species that feed on the ground have longer tarsi. Most species have four toes, three of which are forward-pointing.
The irises of most species are dark brown. The kingfishers have excellent vision; they are capable of binocular vision and are thought in particular to have good colour vision. They have restricted movement of their eyes within the eye sockets, instead using head movements to track prey. In addition, they are capable of compensating for the refraction of water and reflection when hunting prey underwater, and are able to judge depth under water accurately. They also have nictitating membranes that cover the eyes to protect them when they hit the water; the pied kingfisher has a bony plate which slides across the eye when it hits the water.
See also: Birds Images With Name, King Penguin Images (Cute) Collection

attention: all images contained on this "Kingfisher Images" page does not belong to this blog, the images used for information purposes only. If you are the owner of the image above and don't want the picture shown, please contact us and we'll remove it immediately. Thank you