White Breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis )

This Kingfisher has been spotted near Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar (Rihand) lake in Sonbhadra district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.

The White Breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis ) is locally known as Kilkila or Kourilla in Hindi.Its size is between a Myna and a Pigeon.It has a brilliant turquoise blue colour with a deep chocolate-brown head , neck and underparts , a consicuous white 'shirt front' and long heavy pointed red bill .It has a white wing patch prominent in flight.It is found singly in cultivated and wooden country both near and away from water.Their distribution is in the plains and the lower hills thorough out the Indian Union.

They are seen at ponds,puddles , rain-filled ditches , inundated paddy fields and near the seashore.Also seen in light forests at considerable distances from water.From a favorite lookout from a telegraph wire or post, it pounces down on creeping prey and flies off with it to another perch nearby where the victim is battered to death and swallowed.Its common food is fish , tadpoles, lizard, grasshoppers and other insects.Occasionally also young bird and mice.
Its sound is loud crackling and chiefly heard during flight.Also it has a loud, not unmusical, frequently repeated chattering song , delivered from a tree-top or some exposed elevated perch.
Its nesting is principally from March to July and the nest is typically a horizontal tunnel in the ground , dug into the side of a dry nullah or earth cutting.

 A Kingfisher spotted at Periyar National Park, Kerla