Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala)

            Masai Mara National Reserve
Kenya
East Africa

The grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) has a wide distribution from the Cape Verde Islands off the north-west coast of Africa to Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia and southern Arabia and south to South Africa.

A dry-country kingfisher of scrub and woodland, solitary or in pairs, is often found near water, but unlike most kingfishers is not aquatic. Perches on a branch, unmoving for long periods while watching the ground for signs of insects or small lizards, bobbing head before diving on prey. 

In appearance very like the brown-hooded kingfisher but with a red rather than red and black bill and like the woodland kingfisher, but the woodland kingfisher lacks the chestnut belly and has greater coverage of cyan feathers on the back. 

Nests in holes in steep riverbanks and is aggressively protective of its nest by repeated dive-bombing of foraging monitor lizards. It is parasitised by the greater honeyguide. This species migrates at night and is often killed by flying into obstacles such as buildings, towers and powerlines. – Wikipedia

Taken in: Kenya / Narok / Ol Kiombo (show map)

Taken on: January 20, 2015

Tags:

Kenya2015

Masai Mara National Reserve

Halcyon leucocephala

Both Sexes the Same

Solitary or in Pairs

Nests in Holes in Riverbanks

Migrates at Nigh

Aggressive

Dive Bombs foraging Monitor lizards

Dry Country Kingfisher

Sue Roehl

Pentas K3

Closely Cropped

Sunrays+5

COTH

coth5 « less

Sets appears in: • Kenya, January 2015, Part 2

Groups appears in: • Wild Animals • wildlife photographers more » • FANTASTIC: commented with fantastic • Beauty of Nature • COMMENTED WITH SPLENDID UNLIMITED • Wild About Wildlife • Damn! I Wish I'd Taken That!!! (Invite Only) Post 1-Award2 . • Birding In The Wild • Fantastic Wildlife • National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Watch • National Geographic Wild Life • **Heart Awards** (P.1 Award 5) Open - Sweeper present • National Wildlife Magazine Photo Group • Colors Of The Heart! *Invited Images Only*! • Fauna, Flora&Landscapes - Post 1 Comment 3 • Earth Images Nature Photography • Wildlife, KEEP IT WILD!!! • Living Jewels of Nature • Precious Living Jewels of Nature • Members Choice (Admin Invite Only) • WILDLIFE & NATURE ONLY ~ No Limits Just Wildlife. • *Feathers & Beaks* P1 - A3 • Our Wonderful and Fragile World - P1 - A4 • Birding for everyone! (Field Guide of the World) • Worldwide Fauna « less

Stats: 916 views / 153 comments

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder