Striped kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti), Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

Description

The striped kingfisher eats mostly grasshoppers followed by other large insects. Small lizards, snakes and rodents are occasionally taken. It hunts from a perch about 3 metres high swooping to the ground for prey up to ten times a minute. Food items are taken back to the perch and swallowed, large prey being beaten vigorously first.