Kingfisher (Alcedinidae)

Alcedine commonly called as kingfisher, is a suborder of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the Coraciiformes family. They belong to the class of Aves and Phylum Chordata. They are about 90 species and  treated either as a single family, the Alcedinidae, or as a suborder containing 3 families, namely Alcedinidae(river kingfisher), Halocyonidae (tree kingfisher) & Cerylidae (water kingfisher)

They have a large head, long, sharp, pointed bills( for hunting prey), short legs with 4 toes, 3 of which are forward-pointing and shubby tail, they can have bright plumage(green/blue) with not much difference between the sexes. The irises of most species are dark brown in colour  

Some kingfishers prefer to live near rivers and eat fish, while most species live away from water and eat small invertebrates, they are renowned for their dramatic hunting techniques, that is the birds initially sits still, watching for movement from a favourite perch. Having sighted its quarry, it plunges into the water and catches the fish usually not deeper than 25 cm below the surface in its dagger-shaped bill, these birds migrate south for winters. They nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the grounding.