Giant Kingfisher

Megaceryle maxima

The Giant Kingfisher is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert other than the arid southwest.
Giant Kingfisher || Lake Naivasha || Aug 2017 https://www.facebook.com/MohammedSalmanPics/ Giant Kingfisher,Megaceryle maxima

Appearance

The Giant Kingfisher is 42–48 cm long, with a large crest and finely spotted white on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring, and the female has a white-spotted black breast band and chestnut belly.
Giant Kingfisher Taken in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Giant Kingfisher,Megaceryle maxima,South Africa

Naming

There are two subspecies, ''M. m. maxima'', found in open country, and ''M. m. gigantea'' in the rainforest. The forest race is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than ''maxima'', but the two forms intergrade along the forest edge zone.
Giant_Kingfisher4 Giant Kingfisher,Megaceryle maxima,South Africa

Reproduction

Breeding is from August to January, 3–5 eggs being laid in a riverbank tunnel.
Giant Kingfisher male flying off Botswana,Fall,Geotagged,Giant Kingfisher,Megaceryle maxima

Food

This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught in the typical kingfisher way by a dive from a perch.

References:

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Status: Least concern
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassAves
OrderCoraciiformes
FamilyAlcedinidae
GenusMegaceryle
SpeciesM. maxima
Photographed in
Botswana
Kenya
South Africa