Similar species Alcedinidae

Belted Kingfisher |  Kingfisher |  Pied Kingfisher |  White-Breasted Kingfisher | 

Ceryle rudis is a medium-sized kingfisher and has the distinctive kingfisher body type, with a large head, small body, small feet, and long, dagger-like bill. They have distinctive black and white coloration, spotted on the wings, and with a black crown on the head. Sexes can be distinguished by sexually dimorphic bands across the chest. Males characteristically have two black bands whereas females have only one. The typical body length is 25 to 29 cm

Pied kingfishers live along streams, lakes, rivers, estuaries, irrigation ditches, canals, bays, floodlands, and reedy inlets. Near mountainous areas, they live in lower river valleys. They usually avoid mangroves and large swamps. The habitat of C. rudis ranges from seashores up to 2,500 m above sea level. They are less abundant near fast flowing waters.

Pied kingfishers (Ceryle rudis) occur in sub-saharan African, the Middle East, the Asia mainland, and southern China. They are common in sub-saharan Africa, along the Nile, and east Egypt. In Pakistan, they are widely distributed across Punjab and the Sind plains. They are rare in Cyprus, Greece, and Poland. Pied kingfishers are gregarious, tame, and conspicuous. They perche on the sides of streams on waterside vegetation to conserve energy. They also perch on manmade objects such as fences, canoes, and huts. Ceryle rudis creates communal roosts at certain times of year, and are the largest birds able to hover for a sustained period of time.
Ceryle rudis has a predominantly African and Asian distribution, which just extends into Europe in Turkey and (recently) Cyprus. Its European breeding population is extremely small (as few as 100 pairs), but its trend between 1970-1990 was unknown. Although it bred in Cyprus for the first time during 1990-2000, the Turkish population declined substantially, and the species underwent an extremely large decline (>80%) overall. As a consequence of this decline and its small population size, this previously Secure species is now provisionally evaluated as Critically Endangered

Pied kingfishers primarily eat fish. Unlike other kingfishers, pied kingfishers swallow their fish in flight after plunging. There are 3 foraging behaviors displayed by C. rudis: hover-plunge, perch-plunge, and skimming. Hover-plunge occurs when a bird leaves a perch and progressively flies to lower and lower heights until it finally plunges into the water to pierce the prey. Perch-plunge is a tactic in which the bird sits on a perch waiting for a fish to swim close enough so that it can plunge directly into the water after a fish. With this method, a bird will increase its perch height with an increased depth of water. A skimming bird will fly close to the water about 100 m offshore, but little is known about this process because it is difficult to gather data on this hunting method. Still, this method makes pied kingfishers unique because they are the only species of kingfisher that will forage offshore. Pied kingfisher families have been seen to perch together when fishing, but these family units will often split up. Capture success rate is only 9 to 50%. More successful plunges usually take half the time of unsuccessful plunges. Pied kingfishers may also take aquatic insects, crustaceans, and ,more rarely, amphibians and mollusks. Adults will regurgitate three to four pellets of undigested bones per day, but hatchlings will digest most of the bones and regurgitate only one pellet per day, absorbing more calcium to support their own bone growth.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 10,000,000 km². It has a large global population, including an estimated 200-400 individuals in Europe (BirdLife International in prep.). Global population trends have not been quantified, but populations appear to be stable (del Hoyo et al. 2001) so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]

Courtship involves dancing displays and males offering food to females. Dancing displays are gregarious and done with 3 to 12 males at one time. They noisily call to each other while holding their wings half spread and may also engage in fights by interlocking their beaks or holding their wings. Males attract females by offering food over a period of about three weeks. Pied kingfishers breed cooperatively, with non-mated birds helping raise the offspring of a mated pair. Cooperative breeding begins before eggs hatch, but more males help the breeding pair after hatching.

It is common throughout sub-Saharan AfricaAfrica Africa is one of the greatest sized continents of the Earth. The Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea mostly surround Africa.... and southern AsiaAsia Asia is the largest and most populous continent or region, depending on the definition. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area, or 29.4% of its land area, and it contains more than 60% of the world's human population.... from TurkeyTurkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Southwest Asia Asia and the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe Europe.... to IndiaIndia India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries by area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the largest liberal democracy in the world.... to ChinaChina China is a Culture of China and ancient civilization in East Asia. Due to the stalemate of the last Chinese Civil War following World War II, the word "China" is used today by two de facto separate states: the People's Republic of China and... . It is resident, and most birds do not migrateBird migration Long-distance land bird migrationMany species of land migratory birds migrate very long distances, the most common pattern being for birds to breed in the temperate or arctic northern hemisphere and winter in warmer regions, often in the tropics or ... , other than seasonal movements.