An adult Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) on Fogo in Cape Verde roughly 450 kilometers (300 miles) off the coast of Africa in the north Atlantic Ocean This bird has a wide distribution from the Cape Verde Islands off the northwest coast of Africa to Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia and southern Arabia and south to South Africa. A dry-country kingfisher of scrub and woodland, solitary or in pairs, often found near water, but unlike most kingfishers is not aquatic. Perches on branch, unmoving for long periods while watching the ground for signs of insects or small lizards, bobbing head before diving on prey. Fogo (Portuguese for "fire") is an island in the Sotavento group of Cape Verde. It is the most prominent of the group, rising to nearly 3,000 m (10,000 ft) over sea level at Mount Fogo.

Credit to: Blue Planet Archive / Michael S. Nolan

Image dimensions: 3600x5400