The Woodland Kingfisher is a good example of the brilliant coloration of many tropical Kingfishers. It lives throughout the northern half of Africa wherever there is water.
It will hunt from a favorite perch and take anything it can catch small enough to kill and eat. As you can see from the photos below, one of the things it will eat is Scarab Beetles.
Classification:
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
Genus: Halcyon
Species: H. senegalensis
Photos:
Woodland Kingfisher
"This must have been the most luxurious picture of the whole South Africa Trip.. No crawling around on dirt roads, no bending my back in the most impossible positions to get a shot right….. but.. We were staying at Rattray’s in the Mala Mala Game Reserve, which is a .. er…very comfortable lodge (for sure this is the understatement of the year!). During breakfast I noticed the Woodland Kingfishers that were flying off and on and quite often landing on the same branche. I had my camera with me so I sat myself down on the terasse in front of that particular tree.. the sun gaining strength, a waiter checking on me every 15 minutes or so. In a word: GREAT! I’ve seldom felt more pampered than then. On top of that, while shooting happily at the Kingfishers, I had a hilarious conversation with a couple from New York who knew the most interesting gossip about certain American politicians. I didn’t think that I, being Dutch (and we dó have a reputation for being ‘quite’ liberal) could have been shocked about what I heard, but I certainly was! American politics will never be the same again (in my wicked mind 
In the end, we were laughing so hard, it scared the Kingfishers away, but for once.. I didn’t mind at all! :-)"
Photo courtesy of hvhe1
Woodland Kingfisher
"Woodland Kingfisher, Bosveldvisvanger (Halocyon senegalensis) just as if he is posing for the camera"
Photo courtesy of neillvs Read the rest of this entry »
