Common kingfisher
Alcedo atthis atthis
Habitat
Its range covers a large part of the Palearctic region and the Indo-Malayan region of Southeast Asia. The Common kingfisher winters in southern Europe, Egypt, northeastern Sudan, Oman, and Pakistan.
The Common kingfisher is found in areas with stagnant or gently flowing freshwater, including streams, small rivers, canals, ditches, lakes, ponds, flooded wells, and reservoirs. The water must have a high availability of small prey. The banks must be covered with reeds, rushes, or shrubs. During the winter, the kingfisher often visits estuaries, harbors, and rocky coasts.
Appearance
Diet
The Common kingfisher mainly eats fish and insects. This bird species exceptionally feeds on berries.
Breeding
The breeding season varies geographically. In the Netherlands, the breeding period runs from February to July. The Common kingfisher usually has one or two broods. This bird species has a monogamous mating system.
In the fall, the Common kingfisher starts looking for a mate or finding a mate again. The territories of the male and female will be merged during the breeding season. Before copulation takes place, the male will feed the female.
The nest is built in a sandy, stone-free bank, quarry, sandpit, peat pier, or earth bank. Sometimes the Common kingfisher makes a hole in a wall, rotting tree stump, or old hollow to serve as a nest. The nest consists of a tunnel and a nesting chamber. The female lays 3 to 10 eggs in the nest chamber. Both sexes incubate the eggs, but only the female will incubate at night. The eggs hatch in 19 to 21 days. Both parents feed the young in the nest. After 23 to 27 days, the young fly for the first time. They will dive into the water for the first time approximately 4 days after fledging. Eventually, the parents will drive the young out of the breeding area.
How will you help the Common kingfisher?
You can help Common kingfishers by creating additional nesting sites in places where they cannot dig their own nests, such as rocky steep walls, embankment walls, extremely steep slopes with deep roots, or loose banks.
The breeding tube with artificial nest is best placed on the bank of a ditch, fen, or pond. Both compartments are buried horizontally in their entirety under the ground on a steep bank. The breeding tunnel must be slightly lower than the artificial nest. In addition, the breeding tube with artificial nest must be placed 0.50 m above the highest water level. This is to prevent water from entering the artificial nest. The entrance to the breeding tube must be unobstructed. After placing the breeding tube with artificial nest, place a layer of approximately 2 cm of sand or clay on the bottom of the breeding tube with artificial nest. Then fill the hole completely with sand.
Since Common kingfishers have two broods in different nests, we recommend integrating two breeding tubes with nest boxes into the same wall. Keep a distance of at least 70 cm between the two breeding tubes with artificial nests.