Uganda: Lake Victoria – Malachite Kingfisher
Another species of the kingfisher common at Lake Victoria is the much smaller but absolutely stunningly colored malachite kingfisher. it’s only about 12 cm/5 inches in size, but you can often easily spot them by their brilliant sparkling metallic blue colors. The front is orangey and the bill is bright red. They are common at the edge of the water, in the papyrus reeds, often sitting just at the edge of the vegetation and observing the fish below. Once they spot the fish, they drop and dive into the water, and usually come out with fish in the bill, often quite large relative to their own puny size. Sometimes they beat the fish against a tree branch to kill it and they flip it in the air to swallow it head first. They live in the borrows in the sand and ground that they excavate.
