 Picture 1 A ruddy kingfisher with a
centipede in its beak.
 Picture 2 A pair of ruddy kingfishers.
The bird on the left has a lizard in its beak.
 Picture 3 A fledgling whose feather, beak
and legs aren't as ruddy as those of an adult yet.
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y Ruddy Kingfisher z
( Scientific name: Halcyon coromanda . )
* When you hear the familiar song of a bird
like kiorororo in a falling tone at the end of April or the beginning
of May, you know ruddy kingfishers are back again. This species,whose whole
body is vermilion, belongs to alcedinidae (the halcyon family). It is called
kukkaru in Amami dialect.
* Ruddy kingfishers lay eggs from June to July, making use of small caves
on riverbanks or hollows of trees. They catch fish, crabs, frogs, insects
like grasshoppers and cicadas, centipedes, lizards and even small
snakes.
* At the end of October they are no longer to be
seen because they fly away to Southeast Asia for the winter. The ruddy
kingfishers that breed in Amami and Okinawa are said to be subspecific, so that
they are often called Ryukyu-Akashobin, to make a distinction from
those on the Mainland.
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| ¦To enlarge, please click the photo. |