The kingfisher family Alcedinidae belongs to the Coraciiformes order, as do the bee-eaters of family Meropidae, the motmots of family Momotidae, the rollers of families Brachypteraciidae and Coraciidae, and the todies of family Todidae.




Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. There are about 110 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. The typical kingfisher has three toes pointing forward and one to the rear, with the third and fourth toes partially fused together. The bill is usually longer and more compressed in species that hunt fish, and shorter and more broad in species that hunt prey off the ground. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. There is also little difference in the length or weight of the sexes. Some species have males slightly larger than females, but other species have the females listed as  slightly larger than the males.

The kingfishers are separated into three subfamilies: River Kingfishers (Alcedinina), Tree Kingfishers (Halcyoninae), and Water Kingfishers (Cerylinae). This article is about the River Kingfishers which are also know as Pygmy KIngfishers.



The river kingfishers are one of the three subfamilies in the kingfisher group. They are widespread through Africa, east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the common kingfisher, also appearing in Europe and northern Asia. These are brightly plumaged compact birds with short tails, large heads and long bills. They feed on insects or fish, and lay white eggs in a self excavated burrow. "River" can be somewhat of a misnomer for many of these species as they are not dependent on water for food. These Alcedininae kingfishers have also been called pygmy kingfishers. While the majority of this subfamiy are indeed small, there are quite a few exceptions to this characterization too. Approximately 20 species have "dwarf", "pygmy", or "little" as part of their name.

There are 39 Alcedininae kingfishers which are contained in 5 genera: Alcedo(7), Ceyx(22), Corythornis(4), Ispidina (2), Lacedo(1), and Pelargopsis(3) where the number in parenthesis indicates the species in the genus.

The Alcedo kingfishers all eat fish. Some also eat small crustaceans, aquatic insects, and larvae. The generally forage by sitting on a perch looking in the water below for prey. They all have some blue feathers on their upperparts and most species some rufous in their plumage and also have a black bill. The female generally has more red on the lower mandible than the male. The smallest species is the cerulean kingfisher which is about 13 cm long The largest is Blyth's kingfisher with a length of 22 cm.

All except one of the kingfishers in Ceyx have three rather than the usual four toes. The exception is the Sulawesi dwarf kingfisher which retains a vestigial fourth toe. They are found from South East Asia to the Solomon Islands. Compared to the related kingfishers in the Alcedo genus, the Ceyx kingfishers are more terrestrial and their diet consists mainly of insects. These are small kingfishers - the majority are less than 15 cm long. The six African species in Ispidina and Lacedo are also small, none longer than 14 cm. The largest of the Alcedininae kingfishers are found in  genus Pelargopsis with the biggest being the great-billed kingfisher which is 35 cm long and can weigh up to 200 grams.

They Alcedininae kingfishers lay white eggs in a tunnel that is constructed in the ground by both parents. Both adults also incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. The length of the nest-tunnels depend on the size of the species and also the material in which the tunnel is constructed. These tunnels range from 5 to 100 cm in length. A large bird and soft material favors a longer tunnel.

Genus Alcedo
The Alcedo kingfishers all eat fish. Some also eat small crustaceans, aquatic insects, and larvae. The generally forage by sitting on a perch land looking in the water below for prey. They all have some blue feathers on their upperparts and most species some rufous in their plumage and also have a black bill. The female generally has more red on the lower mandible than the male. The smallest species is the cerulean kingfisher which is about 13 cm long  The largest is Blyth's kingfisher with a length of 22 cm. Both partners help excavate nest-tunnels and incubate the eggs. The tunnels for these relatively small species average about 50 cm in length.

Kingfisher,_Blue-banded  Alcedo euryzona    Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans  2) Mike_Prince  3) Mark Benedict - Borneo  4) lonelyshrimp - Thailand
1) Left: male Right: female   2) Female  3, 4) Male



Kingfisher,_Blue-eared      Alcedo meninting Image by: 1) ) David Dennis - Malaysia  2) Shrikant_Rao - India  3) David_Cook - Borneo



Kingfisher,_Blyth's  Alcedo hercules   Image by: 1) Discovery_Times  2) Henry_Koh



Kingfisher,_Cerulean    Alcedo coerulescens  Image by: 1) Aaron Maizlish  2) Francesco_Veronesi  3) Lip Kee 
3) Male



Kingfisher,_Common Alcedo atthis Image by:  1) Ravi Vaidyanathan  2) Lukasz Lukasik  3) Andrej_Chudy. - Slovakia  4) Cristiano Crolle - Naole, Italy 



Kingfisher,_Half-collared  Alcedo semitorquata