Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) male (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

20 February 2026

On Wednesday I wrote about a Kingfisher Sweep of all six species in Costa Rica but that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to kingfishers. Worldwide there are 117 species and all but six of them are native to Asia, Africa and Australia.

The kingfisher family (Alcedinidae) is in the order Coraciiformes along with bee-eaters, todies, motmots, rollers and ground-rollers, all of whom share this behavior: They beat their prey against a hard surface to kill or stun it, to break it up a bit and, in the case of bee-eaters, to remove stingers.

Watch three members of the kingfisher family beating up their dinner.

The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), pictured at top, is native to Eurasia and the north edge of Africa. Though his head, neck and beak make him look large, he is only slightly larger than a house sparrow.

The pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is about the size of a blue jay. He lives in Africa and Asia.

Pied kingfisher, male (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

This pied kingfisher was whacking a fish at St. Lucia park, KwaZulu-Natal [South Africa]. I left the entire video uncut to demonstrate how long it was at this. It flew off after a few minutes and kept hitting the fish against another rock.

Did you know that kookaburras are kingfishers?

The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), twice the size of our belted kingfisher, is one of 5 kookaburra species found in Australia and Indonesia. Watch him subdue a beetle.