A beautiful species and the view of one disappearing in a flash up a valley is a sight one never forgets.
It has a beak that is one third the length of its body, and although colourful with blue wings, aquamarine back and a red chest, it can be surprisingly difficult to notice as it sits quietly on a bare branch looking down intently for small fish. Resident and breeds in holes burrowed into banks of streams and lakes. Kingfishers fly low and fast with wing-beats a blur of motion, but can, when appropriate perches are unavailable, hover before a vertical dive onto its prey.
Sexes are told apart by the colour of the beak, the male's being all black while the female's has a red base to the lower mandible.
