Gray fishermen

Gray fishermen
	Gray fisherman ( Ceryle rudis )
Systematics
Order :	Rockers (Coraciiformes)
Family :	Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)
Subfamily :	Fishing Kingfisher (Cerylinae)
Genre :	Ceryle
Type :	Gray fishermen
Scientific name
	Ceryle rudis
	( Linnaeus , 1758)

The gray fisherman ( Ceryle rudis ) is a kingfisher found in Africa along the Nile , south of the Sahara and in southern Asia from Turkey to the People's Republic of China . He is a resident bird , so does not move away in winter.

A gray fisherman in shaking flight while hunting

Clutch by Ceryle rudis

It feeds mainly on fish, but also eats crustaceans and aquatic insects. In addition to the usual hunting technique of lurking on a branch for the prey , the gray fisherman can search for fish while shaking flight over the water. Nor does it have to go back to a branch to devour the prey. He also succeeds in doing this during the flight. This adaptation also makes it possible for him to hunt over the sea.

The gray fisherman becomes 25 cm long; it has black and white plumage. On the head is a shaggy, partially raised head . Unlike most kingfisher species, it is sociable and forms large schools in the evening . This bird can be tamed easily.

The nest is a cave lined with fish scales and bones in a sandbar, isolated or in a colony. The clutch consists of 3–6 white eggs.

literature

Ali, Salim: The Book of Indian Birds. 13th ed., 2002, ISBN 0-19-566523-6 (English).

Web links

Commons : Graufischer ( Ceryle rudis ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Ceryle rudis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 2 of 2009.
Gray fish couple, male on the right

Videos, photos and sound recordings of Ceryle rudis in the Internet Bird Collection
Video: Ceryle rudis (Alcedinidae) - catching prey . Institute for Scientific Film (IWF) 2000, made available by the Technical Information Library (TIB), doi : 10.3203 / IWF / E-3180 .
Feathers of the gray fisherman