A blue, red, and black flash shot by the front of our vehicle, heading left into the shade of a large acacia. There, sitting about eight feet off the ground, was a pair of woodland kingfishers. Each had a black shoulder patch, a bright, almost neon-blue back, wing tips, and tail—a large red bill projected in front of a black eye and black eye ring. Light blue covered its head and breast. These were gorgeous kingfishers. Even in the deep shade, they seemed to glow. This was one of our first days in Ruaha National Park and finding this member of the Alcedinidae [1] was a thrill.
They call these kingfishers, but this species doesn’t fish [2]. The first bird in this family described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 was the common kingfisher found in Europe. It does feed on fish, as our belted kingfishers do in North America. All except a few birds in this family now seem to carry that last name even when they prefer other prey. The woodland kingfisher is a bird of the arid scrub, the savannas, and areas immediately away from rivers.
Evolution
Kingfishers are an interesting group that has spread and evolved worldwide. They are most numerous in the Eastern Hemisphere, with only six species in the Western Hemisphere[1]. An incredible 19 of the 114 species live in New Guinea [1, 3]. Michael Andersen and his colleagues used genetic analyses to determine that the family first evolved in Southeast Asia about 27 million years ago and colonized Africa at least six times from there [3].
Our two woodland kingfishers shifted the direction of their stares. We were only a hundred yards or two from the Ruaha River. This species, though, prefers grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, dragonflies, and other small creatures. It tends to drop from a perch when it spots a morsel, then brings it back to the branch to knock off wings before gobbling it down.
We sat for ten minutes, hoping one would drop on a prey item, but they seemed content to wait.
A portfolio from Tanzania can be found at www.thomasbancroft.com
1. Phillipsen, I. Alcedinidae – The Kingfishers. 2021 28 December 2025]; Available from: https://www.scienceofbirds.com/blog/alcedinidae-kingfishers.
2. Woodall, P.F. Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis), version 1. Birds of the World 2020; Available from: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wookin1.01.
3. Andersen, M.J., et al., A phylogeny of kingfishers reveals an Indomalayan origin and elevated rates of diversification on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography, 2018. 45(2): p. 269-281.
