Scientific name: Ceryle rudis
The Pied kingfisher is white with a black mask, a white supercilium and black breast bands. The crest is neat and the upperparts are barred in black.
In southern Africa, it is common in many areas, including South Africa, northern Botswana and Zimbabwe. It can live at any water body, as long as there are small fish, such as streams, rivers, lakes, temporary pans, estuaries, temporarily flooded areas and rocky coasts.
Feeds mainly on fish, supplemented with invertebrates. It often uses the hovering technique for catching fish, searching for prey from a high vantage point in the air, then diving straight down into the water to grab the prey item. It immediately flies back to its perch, where it beats the prey to death then swallows it.
