Common or Eurasian Kingfisher on the look out for prey in the Sunderbans mangrove swamps in West Bengal, India.
A beautiful river kingfisher hovering near the seaside of Sundarbans mangrove forest.
The river kingfishers or Alcedinidae, are one of the three families of bird in the kingfisher group. The Alcedinidae once included all kingfishers, before the widespread recognition of Halcyonidae (tree-kingfishers) and Cerylidae (water-kingfishers). The family is widespread through Africa, through east and south Asia as far as Australia, with one species, the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) also appearing in Europe and northern Asia. The origin of the family is thought to have been in Asia.
These are brightly plumaged compact birds with short tails, large heads and long bills. They feed on insects or fish, and lay white eggs in a self-excavated burrow. Both adults incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.
The Sundarbans is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. The Sunderbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, most of which situated in Bangladesh and the remaining in India.
The Sundarbans National Park is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve located in the Sundarbans delta in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sundarbans South, East and West are three protected forests in Bangladesh. This region is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger.
source - Wikipedia
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