kingfisher

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Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

belted kingfisher

Kookaburra (Dacelo gigas)

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Spider monkey swinging in a tree. (primate, jungle animal)

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Hungry Pelican waiting to be fed, beak open, Australia

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Abundant Animals: The Most Numerous Organisms in the World

Black-headed gulls perching on a roof with bird droppings, often seen in flocks around London, England, in winter time. The "black head" develops during the breeding season. (black headed, birds, guano, bird poop)

Common, or southern, cassowary (Casuarius casuarius).

8 Birds That Can’t Fly

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Dancers at a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Mission District, San Francisco, California. (Photo dated 2019.) holidays

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Aspirin pills.

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Berries and leaves of the bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) plant. Poisonous plant

7 of the World’s Deadliest Plants

Periodical Cicada, Adult, Magicicada spp. Requires 17 years to complete development. Nymph splits its skin, and transforms into an adult. Feeds on sap of tree roots. Northern Illinois Brood. This brood is the largest emergence of cicadas anywhere

Why Do Some Cicadas Appear Only Every 17 Years?

Illustration for Demystified "How Dangerous is Quicksand"

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Gutzon Borglum. Presidents. Sculpture. National park. George Washington. Thomas Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota.

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kingfisher: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Alcedinidae

Photos

belted kingfisher

Kookaburra (Dacelo gigas)

See All Images →

Topics

shovel-billed kingfisher ruddy kingfisher belted kingfisher blue-banded kingfisher common kingfisher brown-winged kingfisher Marquesan kingfisher Sulawesi kingfisher kookaburra coraciiform hornbill wood hoopoe roller motmot bee-eater ground roller

Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

vulture. An adult bearded vulture at a raptor recovery center. The Gypaetus barbatus also known as the Lammergeier or Lammergeyer, is a bird of prey and considered an Old World vulture.

Animal Factoids

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Young chimpanzee dressed in a shirt and sweater vest, scratching his head thinking. (primates)

Wild Words from the Animal Kingdom Vocabulary Quiz

turkey vulture. vulture. Close-up of a head and beak of a Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).

A Little Bird Told Me

List

White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) at Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. (birds)

15 of the Best Birdsongs (According to Britannica)

animal. Amphibian. Frog. Anura. Ranidae. Frog in grass.

Abundant Animals: The Most Numerous Organisms in the World

Common, or southern, cassowary (Casuarius casuarius).

8 Birds That Can’t Fly

Demystified

Black-headed gulls perching on a roof with bird droppings, often seen in flocks around London, England, in winter time. The "black head" develops during the breeding season. (black headed, birds, guano, bird poop)

Do Birds Pee?