Malachite Kingfisher

Alcedo cristata

Other Names

  Diademed Kingfisher   Martin-pêcheur huppé   Haubenzwergfischer   Martín Pescador Malaquita   Malakitkungsfiskare   Malachiet ijsvogel   Martin pescatore crestato

World: Africa from Senegal and Gambia, East to Ethiopia and Somalia, South to South Africa.

Kenya: Common in the southern half of the country and around Lake Turkana.

Found in vegetation around lakes and rivers but will take advantage of fence posts and jetties as a fishing perch, catching anything from prawns and crabs to insect larvae. One of our first encounters with Malachite Kingfishers was at the Amboseli Serena Lodge in Kenya where a pair had nested close to the dining room and its ornamental pond. They seemed particularly partial to the small Koi Carp (to the credit of the lodge they didn't appear to mind and kept restocking the pool!).

These birds are strictly aquatic but avoid areas where there is a closed canopy over the water, so, for example, they are not found around slow moving streams which meander through dense woodland or forest. When disturbed they fly fast and very low over water in a direct line to their next perch. The sexes are similar and the birds nest in holes excavated by both sexes in earth (they will utilise river banks, earth banks on roads, well shafts, disturbed earth thrown up around the root systems of fallen trees and even Aadvark lairs. They are monogamous and also territorial.

The Malachite Kingfisher looks similar to the Pygmy Kingfisher, but the Pygmy has no crest and is a woodland rather than a waterside bird.