Crested kingfisher (Female) : Megaceryle lugubris

Crested kingfisher (Female)
 Megaceryle lugubris

Crested kingfisher (Female)
 Megaceryle lugubris

 

Crested kingfisher: Megaceryle lugubris

Gender: Female.

Age: Adult

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Chanfi, Distt.Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.

Date: 3.4.2015

Lugubris: Latin root of Lugubrious. But there’s nothing lugubrious about the Crested kingfisher’s looks though. It sports a punk-like shaggy crest, snow-flecked dark grey head, back, wings and tail. White underparts and the female has black and white spotted moustachial and chest, and grey-barred flanks. The males have a white collar and rufous tinge to chest. The fully erect crest looks blackish with two white patches.

It’s a large kingfisher – almost a foot to foot-and-a-half in size with a strong flight.

It can be confused with the smaller and differently patterned Pied kingfisher which is more ubiquitous than the Crested kingfisher which prefers higher altitudes and colder climes. Therefore, it is also called Himalayan kingfisher.

 

The only thing lugubrious about this lady was her adherence to her perch. She simply wouldn't budge to dive for fish!

 

The male counterpart was AWOL.Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Corciformes
Family	-	Cerylidae
Genus	-	Megaceryle
Species	-	lugubrious

 

Photographed at Chanfi, Distt. Nainital, Uttarakhand, India, on 3^rd  April, 2015, using a Nikon D5100 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

 

© Prashant V Tenjarla

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look similar.

Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail.

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look similar.

Another hot summer noon, and yet another thin stream between tall sun-baked mud banks. There's a bridge nearby. Ideal habitat for Bank mynas and Wire-tailed swallows. I stopped to check, and sure enough, I found them both. A flock of Bank mynas living in burrows in the small mud mountains lining the canal and a family of Wire-tailed swallows beneath the bridge. The sleepy nothingness of nowhere wasn't without life.

Smaller than Common myna, slate-grey plumage, black head and a black frontal crest, orange-red orbital patch, orange bill, red iris, orange-buff patch at base of primaries and underwings coverts, orange-yellow feet and orange-buff tip of tail.

I thought a habitat shot would be in order. Why don't you move on mate? Not too welcoming, are they? By the way, both genders look