African Pygmy Kingfisher

Ispidina picta

One of Africa's tiniest kingfishers at just 12 cm. Jewel-bright hunter that dives for insects, not fish.

Population: Not quantified as a discrete number by BirdLife/IUCN; described as 'frequent to common' across its wide range, with a suspected slow population decline (1-19% per decade) linked to tree-cover loss
Habitat: Woodland, savanna, coastal and lowland forest edges, swamp-forest margins, and non-forest habitats such as rural gardens, plantations, pastureland, and arable land; not tied to water despite the kingfisher name. Elevation range roughly 0-2,000 m.
Fun fact: Despite its kingfisher name and habit of nesting in burrows dug into sandy soil or termite mounds, the African Pygmy Kingfisher rarely eats fish and instead hunts mostly insects and other small terrestrial prey far from water.
Range: Sub-Saharan Africa, from West Africa through Central, East, and Southern Africa (40+ countries), absent from the Horn of Africa and the drier western parts of southern Africa; northern subspecies ranges Senegal east to Eritrea, south to Uganda; southern subspecies ranges S Angola across to C/E Tanzania and south to E Botswana and N/E South Africa. Northern/southern populations are partially migratory, with breeders north of ~12-13°N and southern breeders both shifting toward the equator outside the breeding season.
Diet: Insects (grasshoppers, mantises, crickets, dragonflies, cockroaches, moths) and other invertebrates such as spiders, plus small vertebrates including geckos, lizards, and small frogs, occasionally small crabs.
Size: 0.12 m

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