****FLYING GEM****
There is one ancient legend that says that after the creation of the world, one bird got a gray ugly plumage. But she did not want to remain so ugly and hurried after the setting sun. The sun dyed her chest a reddish-brown color, and the blue of the sky fell on her back.
People call this bird the flying jewel, or more often simply the kingfisher. The ancient Greeks revered kingfishers. Yes, the name of one of the genera Halcyon - goes back to the ancient Greek myth of Alcyone. Alcyone, a woman who drowned herself after learning that her husband had died in a shipwreck. Taking pity, the gods turned them both into kingfishers, and it was even believed that kingfishers hatch their chicks in a floating nest during the winter solstice. These days, the supreme god Zeus himself makes sure that the sea is calm.
There are 84 species of kingfishers on earth. The largest number of species of this bird is distributed in Southeast Asia and in the east.
India. But kingfishers are also common in Africa, North and South America and Australia. Most kingfishers are robust birds with a large head, short legs and a strong beak resembling a spearhead. Many scientists divide the entire genus of kingfishers into two subfamilies: real and forest kingfishers. There are opponents of such a division, but so far no one has canceled it.
Forest kingfishers forage not in water, but on land. Therefore, they can often be found in the savannas, where they prey on insects, mice and small lizards. Aquatic, or real kingfishers live and forage near water bodies. They love fish and are very good at hunting it. These birds are no larger than a sparrow, but there are also quite large ones, such as the piebald kingfisher. This bird is not inferior in size to the famous dove. Large winter rods fly low over the water in search of fish, while small ones prefer to sit on branches and fly out only when the fish are very close. Apparently, they themselves are afraid of getting caught for dinner by some feathered predator.
Most often, kingfishers live in small flocks, but among them there are also loners. So, the malachite kingfisher simply cannot stand the company of relatives. Only during the mating season can you see a pair of kingfishers. And then they somehow look askance at each other.