This morning spent sometime watching birds in a waterbody near Foreshore Estate. This one was different – it was a King Fisher but have seen them mostly having plumage of exotic cyan, blue, orange tinge ! – this had black & white predominantly. It was chased by a Crow, it was able to fly at the same place like a Hummingbird and literally nose-dive straight from a height.
Google search reveals it to be “Pied Kingfisher - (Ceryle rudis)’, a species of water kingfisher widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it has five recognised subspecies. Its black and white plumage and crest, as well as its habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish, make it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast, while females have a single broken breast band. They are usually found in pairs or small family groups. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.
The pied kingfisher was one of the many bird species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, who noted that it lived in Persia and Egypt. He named it Alcedo rudis. The German naturalist Friedrich Boie erected the genus Ceryle in 1828. The name is from classical Greek kērulos, an unidentified and probably mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors. The specific epithet rudis is Latin for "wild" or "rude".
In 1996, Kingfisher sponsored The West Indies Cricket team which gave birth to the iconic jingle “Ooh La Lala Le O” which was identified with the King of Good Times. The association with cricket deepened with iconic cricketers such as Sourav Ganguly, Ajay Jadeja, Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan bringing further star value to the brand as the official ambassadors. Kingfisher was also the official Good Times Partner of seven out of the eight IPL teams. ..
There was an airline too ! – yet some of you may think of only its calendars.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
22.2.2024
