Kotare kingfishers

Saveer:  Day in the life of a Kingfisher (Kotare)

Hi, my name is Halcon the Kingfisher also known as the Kotare. I do get aggressive when it comes to family and food, so if I were you I would not mess with me or my kind. Anyways, I was just about to go over to the lake for some dinner because I couldn’t find anywhere else which gives free food. 

I was just waiting for a fish to show itself. I was just about to swoop in when I mistakenly got into the sight of a fox. I flew back up all the way back to my nest. Fortunately, I had lost the fox but unfortunately, I had to sleep with an empty stomach. The way I adapted was that I had to compensate for the water's refraction and reflection as I search for prey underwater.

Almost all my species are brightly coloured just like me! I have orange legs, blue and green wings and upperparts and my rump and tail are a bright blue colour. If you haven’t realised I will have to travel to the same river I was at because I need to eat 60% of my body weight a day. Sometimes I wish there was a gym for birds so I can burn some of it out, but I need my energy.

(The next morning) OMG! I couldn’t sleep all night because I only got to eat 20% of my body weight instead of 60%. I hope that stupid fox is still asleep so I can eat some breakfast. I then zoomed over to the lake at my top speed of 40 km per hour and took two fish, just in case I can’t find any lunch or the fox woke up, I could eat the second fish. But hopefully, the fox found its own predators and ran off. Anyways that’s all I am going to be doing my entire life unless I find someone so I can have kids but other than that I’m going to be doing this for a while, see you next time unless I get eaten by a fox or one of my other predators. 

(New Paragraph) Just a few more things I want t tell you, let me know if you meet one of my cousins. You might not know that they are related to me though, because there are 120 of my species. Anyways, I’m hungry again so I’ll just zooooooom over to the lake and catch a fish if I am lucky. One more thing before I go, you might not see me in a long time because I have to go over to my brother’s house which is in the Amazon rainforest, he is a different species from me though because he was adopted. He is a Crested kingfisher and I love laughing at his hairstyle. Cya around.

My Brother                              Me!

 

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Rishi: Information about the Kotare kingfisher

What is a Kotare kingfisher?

The Kotare kingfisher is part of the Halcyonidae family. The Kotare (kingfisher) is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that lives in mangroves, woodlands, forests,  river valleys, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the western Pacific. 

What do Kotare Kingfishers look like

All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs and fat tails. 

The Kotare Kingfisher has a blue-greenish back with yellow under the wings. Kingfishers have short, orange coloured legs. Kingfishers are very vividly coloured. The colour of their wings is a blue/green colour and their upperparts and tails are bright blue coloured. Their underparts are bright orange and they have a small, white bib underneath their beaks, on their throats.

What do Kotare kingfisher eat

Kotare eats small crabs, fish and a variety of tadpoles. You can find Kotare in inland and coastal freshwater habitats.

The Kotare Kingfisher eats 60% of its body weight each day! The Kotare kingfisher can travel up to 40km/h and has the life span of 6-10 years. There are over 100 species of Kingfishers.    The design of a kingfisher’s beak is aerodynamically efficient, allowing it to dive from where it is, towards its prey, with maximum speed and minimum splash. In fact, the beak design is so clever that the front of many Japanese bullet trains is modelled to mimic it.

  Conclusion

Overall the bird is a wonderful bird, bright-coloured and amazing. Thankfully the Kotare kingfisher is not endangered and hopefully, it won’t. Did you know that a Kotare kingfisher’s real name is a Sacred Kingfisher?