The Stork-billed Kingfisher is an arboreal species scantily distributed throughout the country. It is a rather large species, considering Kingfishers, and is among the largest Kingfisher species found in India.

An adult Stork-billed Kingfisher is a strikingly attractive bird with a green back, blue wings and tail, and a brown head.  Its under parts and neck are beige, with its large bill and legs being bright red, thereby making a wonderful contrast with the rest of its plumage. It gets its name from its rather large-sized beak. Unlike certain other species, such as the previously described Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, both sexes of the Stork-billed Kingfisher are similar in appearance.

A Stock-billed Kingfisher

This Kingfisher is a species that makes its home in well-wooded habitats close to lakes, rivers or coasts. It nests in river banks, decaying trees, or a tree termite nest. This bird has a clutch size of two to five spherical white eggs, and feeds on fish, frogs, crabs, rodents and even young birds.

The Stork-billed Kingfisher is territorial by nature and is even known to chase away large predators including eagles. It is rarely spotted as it is a solitary bird. Hence one can consider oneself lucky to be able to sight this colourful bird.

If you’re in Orange County, Coorg, you can ask a Naturalist to assist you in sighting this beautiful species.

Happy birding!

Stock-billed Kingfisher: a Solitary Bird

Deepti Michelle John

Deepti, based out of Bangalore, works as Assistant Manager (Marketing) at Orange County Resorts. Possessing Master’s degrees in Psychology and Media and Communications from the London School of Economics, she enjoys spirituality, music, nature, and children.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 2:30 AM and is filed under Birds, Plantation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.