Its dazzling colour, its secretive life style and its rarity have made the common kingfisher famous.

According to the French legend, the kingfisher got its colour because Noah sent him to fly out and look for land. Due to a violent storm the kingfisher had to fly so high that the sun lay underneath him. As a result his upper side took the colour of the sky, and the underside coloured red from the glow of the sun.

Status (in CH): frequent, rare breeding bird, migratory bird and winter visitor.

Features: Top brilliant blue; underside orange: white throat; white spot on both sides of the neck; short tail; red feet; the long and powerful beak is completely dark for the male, for the female the underside is reddish; the short sharp whistle sound like "zii".

(Source: Swiss Ornithological Institute)