What to Know About the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda?

The Pied Kingfisher in Uganda is one of the African birds of Uganda seen during Uganda birding safaris & Tours. It is also known as the water kingfisher, a widely spread bird in Africa and Asia.

The Pied Kingfisher is assumed descendant of the ancestral American green kingfisher which traversed the Atlantic Ocean about 1 million years ago.

It is a near passerine bird in the family Cerylidae. it is a medium-sized bird of about 45-47cm long and 70-95 grams weight. The Pied kingfisher can live for up to four years.

How Does the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda Look Like?

The pied kingfisher is a very distinctive bird with black and white plumage. The crest and crown on the males are dark, with white streak above the eye-near the black strike surrounding the eye to the nape.

The throat and collar are white. It has a mottled aspect of black upperparts edged white. The rump is also streaked black and white.

The lower parts are well bared with two black lines, long and black bill, dark brown eyes and blackish legs. The females have a solitary breast band, broken in the middle and slightly narrow to that of the male.

The juveniles are similar to the females but had a greyish-black breast band instead of black. In flight, the long tail has black feathers in the middle and tips. Their primary bas has a broad white spot.

How Does the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda Sing and Make Calls?

It is a noise bird with a penetrating and frequent “kwik” or “kik” call and a louder “TREEtiti TREEtiti”. it will often give noise after bobbing the head up and down, sometimes the tail raised and flick it downwards.

How Does the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda Feed?

Their main food is fish, aquatic fish, frogs, molluscs, which are identified by watching from a perch. It then rolls the head, flicks the tail before fiving into water to catch the prey by the bill. The prey is then taken back to the bird`s perch and stroke without support to stun it before it is swallowed.

How Does the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda Nest?

The pied kingfisher can nest solitary or in groups, the nest is a hollow dug near water in an earthly bank or rarely on the flat and grassy ground. The nesting hollow is dug by a pair wit a depth of about one meter. Males display and feed their females during nest digging.

How Does the Pied Kingfisher in Uganda Breed?

A pair of breeding pied kingfisher can have up to four non-breeding helpers.in most case these helpers are the old children of the breeding pair.

Because of this help, the pied kingfisher can raise a big number of young ones, regardless of the environment. Males display and feed their females during breeding.

How Does the Pied kingfisher in Uganda Reproduce?

About 4 to 5 white glossy eggs are laid, both adults incubate the eggs for about 18 days. Male will responsibly feed the female during incubation, brooding of chicks as well is done by both adults until they fledge. The young`s sexual maturity is usually 1 year.