ANYWHERE there is fresh water, irrigation channels and flowing streams and rivers, for example in Sindh and Punjab, a noisy black and white bird is often to be seen perched on telephone lines apparently watching the world go by.

This cheeky character is the ‘pied kingfisher’ or ‘ceryle rudis’ and it is really keeping a beady eye on the adjacent water in the hope of spotting food in the shape of a nice, fat fish.

Found in East Africa, across the Middle East, Pakistan and India and also in southern China, this plains-dwelling bird is very common, in Sindh especially but, unlike some other species of kingfisher, it tends to avoid coastal areas and mangrove swamps and is totally absent from upland regions of the country and is rarely, if ever, seen in Balochistan either.

With an average body length of between 28 and 32cm, a wing length of about 14cm, a tail length of 7cm and a bill length of six to seven centimetre, the pied kingfisher has the typical large head and stumpy body that is one of the signatures of this kind of bird, as is the kind of punk rocker style, partially slicked down, messy feather crest on top of its head but, quite unlike many others of its kind, it seems to delight in making as much noise as it possibly can!

Surprisingly, its ear-shattering cries of ‘chirrrrruuukh — chirrrrraaaackh-aaaackh-aaackh’ do not frighten the fish away or spoil the bird’s concentration as, all of a sudden, it dives straight down in the water to catch its chosen meal. It can, and often does, also hover above the water — perhaps making its mind up about which fish is the most tempting, before folding its wings back and diving, straight as an arrow, down to catch its prize.

Pied kingfishers are distinctly black and white in colour. They have a white face and breast with black bands around and their wing feathers are a bold, black and white chequered pattern which stands out a mile.

Unlike the majority of birds, these kingfishers, along with others of the same species, do not build nests but dig out holes in river banks and such places and in which, usually during March and April, the female lays five or six, plain white eggs. Only the female incubates the eggs and the chicks hatch out after approximately 18 days and within just another six days after this, they are already venturing out to learn how to fly.

Like all other water birds in Pakistan, deteriorating water quality — much of these a direct result of industrial and agricultural chemical pollution — these fascinating kingfishers, although numerous now, will face increasing problems in the years to come unless laws relating to water pollution are fully implemented and until humankind learns to give the natural world all the respect it should, and must, have.