The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert, other than the arid southwest.
The first formal description of the giant kingfisher was by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1769 under the binomial name Alcedo maxima. The current genus Megaceryle was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848.
There are two subspecies:
M. m. maxima (Pallas, 1769) – Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia and south to South Africa
M. m. gigantea (Swainson, 1837) – Liberia to northern Angola and western Tanzania, island of Bioko
The nominate subspecies M. m. maxima occurs in wooded savanna while M. m. gigantea prefers tropical rainforest.
The giant kingfisher is 42–46 cm (16.5–18 in) long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly. The forest race M. m. gigantea is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than the nominate race, but the two forms intergrade along the forest edge zone.
The call is a loud wak wak wak.
In South Africa breeding takes place between September and January, in Zimbabwe from August to March, in Zambia March to April and in Liberia December to January.[5]
The giant kingfisher is monogamous and a solitary breeder. The nest is a long horizontal tunnel that is excavated into a river bank by both sexes using their feet and bills. The entrance hole is 11 cm (4.3 in) high and 15 cm (5.9 in) wide. The tunnel is typically 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length but a tunnel of 8.5 m (28 ft) has been recorded. A clutch of around three eggs is laid in a chamber at the end of the tunnel.
The Giant Kingfisher frequents rivers, streams, lakes, dams and even mountain streams with marginal wooded areas, both in forests and savannahs. It is also found in coastal lagoons, mangroves, estuaries and seashores, and occasionally on stagnant pools along dried-up rivers. It can be seen up to 100 metres from the water. In Tanzania, it may occur up to 1600 metres of elevation.
The race “maxima” is found from Senegambia to W Ethiopia and S Angola, N Botswana and South Africa, mainly is the East half, S to Cape Town and SW.
The race “gigantea” occurs in forest from Liberia to N Nigeria, E to W Tanzania and S to N Angola.
The Giant Kingfisher feeds mainly on aquatic preys such as fish, river crabs, amphibians and also small reptiles and insects.
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