The kings of birds

In our previous newsletter, we learnt about why we don’t have queenfishers. (My hot take: it’s because of sexism) Today, let’s allow sexism to win, and learn more about the kingliest of birds!

The king of Kingfishers: the Giant Kingfisher

The Giant Kingfisher, is, as its name suggests - giant! It’s the biggest species of Kingfisher in the world, and gets up to 46cm long. That number may not mean much to you, but it’s about twice the height of your laptop screen (just the screen, not with the keyboard attached).

Image credit: eBird. The Giant Kingfisher has a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male, pictured here, has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring.

They’re found in Africa, and will hunt for food along streams, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. It can get hot and dry in Africa, so these birds have also been recorded fishing for prey in stagnant pools in dried-up rivers.

All kingfishers have a super cool way of fishing for and eating prey, and I genuinely hope you guys get to see it one day.

Many of you may already know that they dive deep into the water for their prey. They’ve evolved to protect their eyes when they enter the water - similar to how swimming goggles protect our eyes underwater - so technically, when kingfishers dive for prey, they are doing it blind.

Image credit: Footsteps Eco Lodge. This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught by diving from a perch.

Once they’ve locked in on its target with their pincer-like long beaks, the kingfisher will come up through the water … with a fish!

But it’s not immediately time to dig in. If the fish is too large, a kingfisher may perch on a nearby branch or rock, and repeatedly bash the fish against the hard surface. This usually ends up with the fish dead (with broken bones) or stunned. Think of it as a mortar and pestle, but much more low-tech!

Then, the kingfisher maneuvers their catch around with their beak, so the fish slides down the bird’s throat, head first.

Image credit: Alamy. I know it’s got watermarks everywhere, but I thought this picture of a Giant Kingfisher with a tilapia fish was so impressive I just had to include it in today’s post!

He who lost to the emperor: the King Penguin!

The King Penguin is the second largest species of penguins in the world - dwarfed only by the Emperor Penguins.

Image credit: Australian Antarctic Programme. The king penguin is approximately 25% shorter and weighs around a third less than the emperor penguin.

In fact, the bird gets its common name from the belief that it was the largest of all penguin species—a belief that was overturned in 1884 when scientists discovered its close relative, the Emperor Penguin.

I bet it was a bad day for King George V, the ruling king of the United Kingdom in 1884! And, as if to add insult to injury, the Emperor Penguin measures nearly a whole foot taller than the King Penguin. King Penguins are very beautiful, with a wonderful hint of egg yolk yellow on their crowns and breasts. It almost looks as if they have a little crown of gold sitting on top of their bald-ish looking head!

I’ve never seen a King Penguin in the wild before, and I’m sure you haven’t, either! They can only be found in sub-Antarctic islands (and in zoos, yes. But I’m talking about the wild here). Nonetheless, there are literally millions and millions and millions of these water birds - an estimated 2.2 million breeding pairs, in fact!

Image credit: Oceanwide Expeditions. King penguins breed on the Subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. King penguins also live on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.

They can be found along the coastlines of the sub-Antarctic islands, and hold the record as the most marine of all penguins - and indeed all birds, spending more time at sea than any other.

King Penguins feast on mostly squid and fish, and are specially built so they can catch these fast-swimming prey in freezing waters. Not only can King Penguins dive down to depths of more than 300 meters (985 feet) to pursue prey, they can even stay underwater for up to nine minutes.

On the other hand, for us humans, the record free dive depth reached by a person was 213.9 meters (702 feet), set in 2007 by Herbert Nitsch. As for holding our breath, most humans can manage about 90 seconds underwater before needing to take a breath.

King Penguins are highly social birds that gather in massive colonies to breed. But, perhaps because there isn’t much in the way of nest building materials in the sub-Antarctic islands, King Penguins are not natural nest builders and will simply lay one egg on the ground. They’ll incubate this by placing their feet below the egg, and then wrapping their single egg with a fold of skin.

When the eggs hatch, the chicks are entirely dependent on their parents for food and warmth. King Penguin parents will alternate guarding the birds every 3–7 days. So one parent will guarding the chick while the other forages for food, and then they swap. The guard phase lasts for 30–40 days.

Image credit: Oceanwide Expedition. King penguins often breed on the same large, circumpolar islands as at least half of all living penguins, but it is easily distinguished from other species by its much larger size and taller frame, colorful markings and grizzled sooty-greyish rather than blackish back.

The chicks then grow up to become teenagers and young adults, and are finally able to go out to sea after 14 to 16 months on land. That’s more than a whole year - which is a marked difference compared to other, smaller penguin species, who typically only need one single summer to raise their chicks. Summer is usually when food is most plentiful.

In order to grant their chicks the highest chance of survival, adult King Penguins will try to ‘time’ their mating period so that their chicks will develop over the harshest season of the year. King penguin chicks take 14–16 months before they are ready to go to sea. This is markedly different from smaller penguins, who rear their chicks through a single summer when food is plentiful. King penguins time their mating so the chicks will develop over the harshest season for fishing.

And then, by the time the young penguins are finally mature enough to leave their parents, the harshest season is over, and it is summer again - when food is plentiful. These favourable conditions mean young King Penguins have a higher chance of surviving alone at sea.

Image credit: eBird. One of the largest known King penguin colonies, on Île aux Cochons in the Crozet Islands, is thought to have experienced a massive drop in its population over the last few decades, from about half a million breeding pairs in the 1980s to about 60,000 breeding pairs in 2017.

It’s pretty incredible how penguins have evolved to flourish in such icy, unlivable conditions!

The little king: the Golden-crowned Kinglet

One of the cutest birds I’ve ever seen, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is a super tiny songbird that can be found across North America. They get their name from this amazing crest of golden feathers on top of their tiny heads.

Image credit: eBird. Adults are olive-gray on the upperparts with white underparts, with thin bills and short tails. They have white wing bars, a black stripe through the eyes and a yellow crown surrounded by black.

They are one of the smallest songbirds in the world, and are barely larger than a hummingbird! They only get up to 11cm long (hooray for short kings!) and weight about 6g - or an American quarter.

Perhaps because they are so tiny, they have not been the easiest birds to stuff. Relatively little is known about kinglet breeding biology because they build well-hidden nests high in trees far to our north, primarily in the boreal forest of Canada. However, we do know that females can lay up to 12 eggs - a remarkable number for such miniscule birds!

Image credit: American Bird Conservatory The golden-crowned kinglet forages actively in trees or shrubs, mainly eating insects, insect eggs and spiders.

And this tiny bird is hardier than it looks. I mentioned above that they nest in the boreal forests of Canada. Those wintering areas can reach nighttime temperatures of below –40° Celsius!

That’s all for today’s king birds. I hope you liked today’s post, and will continue along this learning journey with me! If you have any ideas for which birds I should feature next, leave a comment below and I’ll take a look!