The fisher kings
This is the first in a planned series of posts featuring photographs
taken during our trip to Botswana and Uganda in August 2021.
Pied kingfishers
The first stop on our Africa trip was Maun, Botswana, where we spent a day and a half recovering from a more-grueling-than-necessary journey, before heading out into the Okavango Delta. Since we had nothing particular to do in Maun, we hired a taxi and asked our driver where he liked to go when he had free time. He took us out to see a historic bridge that crosses the Thamalakane River. (I read the panel explaining the bridge’s significance, but I must admit that I remember nothing about it. I plead jet lag!)
We walked over the bridge, noticing various birds flying and swimming around us. Craig’s eye was caught by some striking black-and-white birds, which were flying in and out of holes in the sandy riverbank and hovering over the water. With the help of Merlin, we were able to identify them as pied kingfishers. This was our first bird ID in Botswana, and we were pretty pleased with ourselves!
Pied kingfishers hunt by hovering over the water, their wings moving in a fast figure eight. They are, I have since learned, the largest bird that is able to hover. Once they spot a likely fish, they dive straight down into the water, bill first.
We were told by a guide that pied kingfishers’ eyes absorb sunlight so that they can see in the dark for about half an hour after sunset. To us, this “fact” sounded more like science fiction than science, and I could find no corroboration online. However, these birds do “have excellent color vision and can see into the ultraviolet range” (Animal Diversity Web). To learn more about the mechanics of the pied kingfisher’s hovering and vision, check out the links under “Connections,” below.
All in the family
As you may know, the pied is only one of many species of kingfisher to be found in Africa. We met four others besides, and there are several more that we were not lucky enough to spot. Here’s what we did see:
The kingfisher rises out of the black wave
like a blue flower, in his beak
he carries a silver leaf. I think this is
the prettiest world — so long as you don’t mind
a little dying, how could there be a day in your whole life
that doesn’t have its splash of happiness?
(from “The Kingfisher,” by Mary Oliver)
Connections
- Here’s my photo gallery of all the birds from this trip. Hope you enjoy!
- Animal Diversity Web: Ceryle rudis — pied kingfisher (accessed 18 October 2021)
- Gadi Katzir, Dotan Berman, Moshe Nathan, Daniel Weihs: Sustained hovering, head stabilization and vision through the water surface in the Pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). In Biorxiv (accessed 18 October 2021)
- Read Mary Oliver’s poem in its entirety: “The Kingfisher“
- A random tidbit I came across explains the phrase “halcyon days” and its connection with the kingfisher. In case you’re interested, you can find more information here: What’s the meaning of the phrase ‘Halcyon days’?
2 thoughts on “The fisher kings”
Beautiful photos Jenny! I can’t tell how big these birds are but somewhere you say small. I should look them up for dimensions.
Thanks, Joan! BTW, I looked up the sizes of the different kingfishers. The giant is, of course, the largest, ranging from 16-18 inches long — which surprised me! I saw that one only from a long way off, so I didn’t get a sense of how big he actually was. The malachite is the smallest of the group at around 5 inches long, while the striped is slightly larger (6 inches). The pied and the woodland kingfishers fall in the middle — about 9-10 inches.
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