Malachite Mating Dance

It has been a long while since the Malachite Kingfishers have made a consistent appearance at Intaka Island. This may be due to the fact that the larger Pied Kingfishers are nesting where the Malachite’s nested the previous season.

I made a turn at Intaka recently and was presently surprised to see not one, but two of these spectacular little wetland inhabitants. The pair perched on a nearby branch and just seemed to sit there for a while.

Then one of them, assumingly the male, started flying around the other bird, assumingly the female. This persisted for quite a couple of minutes. Each time the male would land closer to the female. It seemed to me as if they were performing a mating dance or ritual. It was quite comical to see this. The male looked quite hesitant to move in too close.

I knew that the Pied Kingfishers had been gone for a while. I was pretty sure that they would make an entrance very soon. Before I could take any more shots, they came swooping in, making a large racket! The male proceeded to chase the smaller Malachites out of the area and that was the last I saw of them for that day.