#kingfishers

JumblePublishingJumblePublishing
2025-11-06

This particular medieval kingfisher is surprising in that it actually looks like a kingfisher as we know it, even to the colours. It is from the Alphonso Psalter, dated to 1284.

A blue-headed kingfisher with a raised orange-brown beak looking to the left. It has an orange-brown belly, folded greenish wings and a blue back and tail. It is surprisingly realistic and detailed even to the facial stripe of a pale fawn. Image from British Library, Additional MS 24686 (Alphonso Psalter), folio 11r.
JumblePublishingJumblePublishing
2025-11-05

This delightfully cross-looking medieval kingfisher giving the viewer the side-eye as it stomps across the page is from Ann Walsh's Bestiary (dated 1400-1425) which is known for its whimsical drawings.

Between text on a manuscript page, a brown-winged blue bird with a firmly closed, long hooked brown beak is stomping across the page towards the right on large brown webbed feet. It appears to be giving the viewer the side-eye and appears to be scowling. It is unclear if it is walking on a shore or on the blue waves of the background. It is oddly rounded and short. Image from Kongelige Bibliotek, GKS 1633 4° (Bestiary of Ann Walsh), folio 36v.
JumblePublishingJumblePublishing
2025-11-04

It looks more like a pelican to me.

JumblePublishingJumblePublishing
2025-11-03

This week's medieval beast is the kingfisher which may (or may not) be the same as the modern bird of the same name. It is commonly shown reaching back to its own tail feathers as in this image from the Aberdeen Bestiary (c1200).

A large, rather thin, bird with detailed feathers with a long neck reaching back over its raised wings to its tail feathers. It is blue white colour and has a long curved teethed orange-brown beak. It has large webbed orange-brown feet. It is shown in a red and blue ring on a gilt background in a red and white frame. Image from Aberdeen University Library, Univ. Lib. MS 24 (Aberdeen Bestiary), folio 54v.
Birds of the World 🌍🦜mybirdcards@mastodon.world
2025-10-02

New addition! 🌏 Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) #AsianBirds | #StorkBilledKingfisher #PelargopsisCapensis | #Kingfishers #TreeKingfishers #KingfisherFamily #Coraciiformes 📷: Photo by josibo🦉 #MyBirdcards | #birdsoftheworld #birds ❤️🦜

🌏 Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis)

The Stork-billed Kingfisher is a very large kingfisher with a massive, bright red bill, green back, blue wings/tail, and a brown head with orange-buff neck and underparts. It is distributed across the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, preferring well-wooded habitats near water (rivers, lakes, coasts). It is a sedentary, sit-and-wait predator, perching quietly to hunt fish, crabs, frogs, rodents, and young birds. It is also highly territorial. Thirteen subspecies are recognised. 2.5 Flash (Edited) 

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

Fun fact: During courtship, the male may perform a display called "Sky-pointing," where it holds its body vertically with its huge bill pointed straight up to the heavens.

📷: Photo by josibo via Pixabay 
https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-kingfisher-ornithology-species-6814909/

OCON
2025-09-28

Today's @robcrank68.bsky.social #birdoftheday theme is "Any Bird with 3 or More Colours". Picked these at random... 😇 Forest kingfisher (incinctus), Azure kingfisher, Sacred kingfisher, Blue-winged kookaburra (excuse the photobombing friarbird) #photography #birds #kingfishers #gift #EastCoastKin

Forest kingfisher (incinctus) perchedAzure kingfisher, perchedSacred kingfisher, perchedBlue-winged kookaburra, close relative to the more common laughing jackass, under attack by a little friarbird (the kooka won). Note the nictitating membrane closed over its eye as an instinctive reaction.
Ivan Artyukhinartyukhin_ivan
2025-09-23

Это аистоклювый зимородок(аистоклювый гуриал)/stork-billed kingfisher/Pelargopsis capensis - второй их трех видов зимородков, встреченных во время ночной прогулки.

13.07.2025
Kinabatangan river, Borneo, Malaysia

My mistake, I should have given up on #Abercrombie and his repulsively crude, sloppily told #TheDevils earlier! #TheHandmaidsTale is oppressively fantastic but only in homeopathic doses. By chance I stumbled across #Kingfisher's #Nettle&Bone, so far wonderful fairytale-like, dark #fantasy. #booksky

The Devils novel coverDer Report der Magd Buch coverNeedle & Bone book cover
Ivan Artyukhinartyukhin_ivan
2025-07-13

Впервые удалось сделать более-менее нормальные фотографии зимородка. Это парочка синеухих зимородков/blue-eared kingfisher/Alcedo meninting. Самочка сверху - ее можно отличить по красному клюву. На одном фото на груди самца сидело насекомое.

13.07.2025
Kinabatangan river, Borneo, Malaysia

2025-07-11
I usually hear Kingfishers before I see them. I wouldn't have thought that loudly announcing that you're looking for food would be a good hunting strategy, but it seems to work for them.

#Kingfisher #Kingfishers #nature #naturephotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #birds #birdphotography #explorebc #canada #birdingbc #vogel
Birds of the World 🌍🦜mybirdcards@mastodon.world
2025-07-10

New addition: 🌍 Woodland kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) #AfricanBirds | #WoodlandKingfisher #HalcyonSenegalensis | #Kingfishers #TreeKingfishers #KingfisherFamily #Coraciiformes 📷: Photo by angiemit4🦜 #MyBirdcards #birdsoftheworld #birds

🌍 Woodland kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) 

The woodland kingfisher is a medium-sized bird with a bright blue back, wing panel, and tail, contrasting with a white head, neck, and underparts, and black shoulders. It has a distinctive large bill, red on the upper mandible and black on the lower.

It is widely distributed across tropical Africa south of the Sahara, inhabiting various wooded environments, often preferring drier woodland away from water. Northern and southern populations are migratory, moving towards the equator in the dry season.

Highly territorial, they hunt insects and small vertebrates from perches, swooping to the ground. They are known for their loud, trilling calls and an aggressive display where they spread their wings to show white linings. 2.5 Flash (Edited)

Three subspecies are recognised.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

📷: Photo by angiemit4 via Pixabay 
https://pixabay.com/photos/kingfisher-bird-nature-wildlife-4097857/

VDYD
2025-06-24

Kingfishers
Courtesy Katherine Love
#bird #Birds #birdsofmastodon #kingfishers

Birds of the World 🌍🦜mybirdcards@mastodon.world
2025-06-23
🌍🌏 Pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) 

The pied kingfisher is a medium-sized kingfisher (approx. 25cm) with striking black and white plumage and a prominent crest. Males have a double black breast band, while females have a single, often broken, band.

It is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia, favoring clear lakes, rivers, and estuaries.

Pied kingfishers are highly adapted for fishing, often seen hovering expertly over water before plunging headfirst to catch prey. Unlike most kingfishers, they can swallow small fish in flight. They are sociable, often forming large communal roosts and engaging in cooperative breeding. 2.5 Flash (Edited) 

Five subspecies are recognised.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

📷: Photo by larissabakker via Pixabay 
https://pixabay.com/photos/birds-wildlife-nature-body-of-water-3293536/

ZXSE

Here's a grey-headed kingfisher I saw once 🤷‍♀️ 📷🌿🪶

A photo of a grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) perched on a very weathered, rounded tree stump facing to the right with a blurred tan and olive green background. It is a small bird with a large pale gray head and chest, long bright red-orange beak, black and blue wings, blue tail, and chestnut brown underside. Unusually amongest kingfishers, it is not aquatic.
2025-06-18

At about 10 miles long, the Norwottuck Rail Trail connects Northampton and Amherst, MA.

There are little spots to pull off to discover meadows, woods, and scenic sitting areas.

Like this one.

#WednesdayWalks #Kingfishers #BikePaths

A large slab of granite that is bolted to a bike path. There is a thin engraving of a  Belted Kingfisher with its common name and scientific name, Megaceryle alcyon below. The slab is somewhat triangle-shaped with its pointed edge pointing skyward. Behind it are wooden rails that look out onto a lush meadow and wetlands. I am seated on a bench taking this picture.
2025-05-13

Ahhh, a morning visit from a Kingfisher. Nothing like being greeted with a cacophony of CLAAACK!!! and all-around general grumpiness.

But once it settles in, it’s all business.

#WoodedStream #Birds #Kingfishers

A Kingfisher sits on the stubby end of a dead branch. Its head is a gray black set of tufted feathers that makes up most of is head, including surrounding its black eye. Under its cobalt pointy beak is a band of white which makes up its neck if you will. Its wings are a blue gray, which it has pointed back against its body. Most of the branches in the background are blurry and though it is not pictured, a brook is under the birds watchful eye.

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