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Children queuing for hot meal at a Caritas food distribution in Sainte Marie Community, Port-au-Prince. Credit: CARITAS/Mathilde Magnier.
Food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at the Bellflower Unified Nutrition Center, Sept. 10, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
LA County Parks & Recreation employee Tori King gathers information from a driver at a food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, Nov. 10, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
This is a photo of the food distribution centre that Human Appeal International setup in Somalia to help the people affected by the famine.
We distribute food parcels containing essential food items that are sourced locally to accommodate for custom and taste. Each parcel is designed to last a family for one month.
Please check the following link for more information about our appeal for East Africa - bit.ly/east-africa-appeal
COMMON / LITTLE BLUE KINGFISHER :
The Common Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis, also known as Eurasian Kingfisher or River Kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but migrates from areas where rivers freeze in winter.
This sparrow-sized bird has the typical short-tailed, large-headed kingfisher profile; it has blue upperparts, orange underparts and a long bill. It feeds mainly on fish, caught by diving, and has special visual adaptions to enable it to see prey under water. The glossy white eggs are laid in a nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.
> Taxonomy
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Gracula atthis. The binomial name derives from the Latin alcedo, "kingfisher" (from Greek, halcyon) and Atthis, a beautiful young woman of Lesbos, and favourite of Sappho.
The genus Alcedo comprises a number of small, exclusively fish-eating kingfishers. The Common Kingfisher’s closest relatives in the genus are three similar blue-backed, orange-breasted species, the Blue-eared, Half-collared and Blyth's Kingfishers.
> Description
This species has the typical short-tailed, dumpy-bodied large-headed and long-billed kingfisher shape. The adult male of the western European subspecies, A. a. ispida has green-blue upperparts with pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base. The legs and feet are bright red. It is about 16 centimetres (6.3 in) long with a wingspan of 25 cm (9.8 in), and weighs 34–46 grams (1.2–1.6 oz).
The female is identical in appearance to the male except that her lower mandible is orange-red with a black tip. The juvenile is similar to the adult, but with duller and greener upperparts and paler underparts. Its bill is black, and the legs are also initially black.[
The flight of the Kingfisher is fast, direct and usually low over water. The short rounded wings whirr rapidly, and a bird flying away shows an electric-blue "flash" down its back.
In North Africa, Europe and Asia north of the Himalayas this is the only small blue kingfisher. In south and southeast Asia it can be confused with six other small blue-and-rufous kingfishers, but the rufous ear patches distinguish it from all but juvenile Blue-eared Kingfisher; details of the head pattern may be necessary to differentiate the two species where both occur.
The Common kingfisher has no song. The flight call is a short sharp whistle, chee, repeated two or three times. Anxious birds emit a harsh, shrit-it-it and nestlings call for food with a churring noise.
> Geographical variation
There are seven subspecies differing in the hue of the upperparts and the intensity of the rufous colour of the underparts; size varies across the subspecies by up to 10%. The races resident south of the Wallace Line have the bluest upperparts and partly blue ear-patches.
A. a. ispida (Linnaeus, 1758). Breeds from south Norway, Ireland and Spain to western Russia and Romania and winters south to southern Portugal and Iraq.
A. a. atthis (Linnaeus, 1758). Breeds from northwestern Africa and southern Italy east to Afghanistan, Kashmir region, north Xinjiang, and Siberia; it is a winter visitor south to Israel,[8] northeastern Sudan, Yemen, Oman and Pakistan. Compared to A. a. ispida, it has a greener crown, paler underparts and is slightly larger.
A. a. bengalensis (Gmelin, 1788). Breeds in south and east Asia from India to Indonesia, China, Korea, Japan and eastern Mongolia; winters south to Indonesia and the Philippines. It is smaller and brighter than the European races.
A. a. taprobana (Kleinschmidt, 1894). Resident breeder in Sri Lanka and southern India. Its upperparts are bright blue, not green-blue; it is the same size as A. a. bengalensis.
A. a. floresiana (Sharpe, 1892). Resident breeder from Bali to Timor. Like A. a. taprobana, but the blues are darker and the ear-patch is rufous with a few blue feathers.
A. a. hispidoides (Lesson 1837). Resident breeder from Sulawesi to New Guinea and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean Plumage colours are deeper than in A. a. floresiana, the blue on the hind neck and rump is purple-tinged and the ear-patch is blue.
A. a. solomonensis (Rothschild & Hartert 1905). Resident breeder in the Solomon Islands east to San Cristobal. The largest Southeast Asian subspecies. It has a blue ear-patch and is more purple-tinged than A. a. hispidoides, with which it interbreeds.
> Habitat and distribution
The Common Kingfisher is widely distributed over Europe, Asia, and North Africa, mainly south of 60°N. It is a common breeding species over much of its vast Eurasian range, but in North Africa it is mainly a winter visitor, although it is a scarce breeding resident in coastal Morocco and Tunisia. In temperate regions, this kingfisher inhabits clear, slow-flowing streams and rivers, and lakes with well-vegetated banks. It frequents scrubs and bushes with overhanging branches close to shallow open water in which it hunts. In winter it is more coastal, often feeding in estuaries or harbours and along rocky seashores. Tropical populations are found by slow-flowing rivers, in mangrove creeks and in swamps.
Common Kingfishers are important members of ecosystems and good indicators of freshwater community health. The highest densities of breeding birds are found in habitats with clear water, which permits optimal prey visibility, and trees or shrubs on the banks. These habitats have also the highest quality of water, so the presence of this bird confirms the standard of the water. Measures to improve water flow can disrupt this habitat, and in particular, the replacement of natural banks by artificial confinement greatly reduces the populations of fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles, and waterside birds are lost. It can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, provided the water remains clean.
This species is resident in areas where the climate is mild year-round, but must migrate after breeding from regions with prolonged freezing conditions in winter. Most birds winter within the southern parts of the breeding range, but smaller numbers cross the Mediterranean into Africa or travel over the mountains of Malaysia into Southeast Asia. Kingfishers migrate mainly at night, and some Siberian breeders must travel at least 3,000 km (1,900 mi) between the breeding sites and the wintering areas.[
> Breeding
Like all kingfishers, the Common Kingfishers is highly territorial; since it must eat around 60% of its body weight each day, it is essential to have control of a suitable stretch of river. It is solitary for most of the year, roosting alone in heavy cover. If another kingfisher enters its territory, both birds display from perches, and fights may occur, where a bird will grab the other's beak and try to hold it under water. Pairs form in the autumn but each bird retains a separate territory, generally at least 1 km (0.62 mi) long, but up to 3.5 km (2.2 mi) and territories are not merged until the spring.
The courtship is initiated by the male chasing the female while calling continually, and later by ritual feeding, copulation usually following.
The nest is in a burrow excavated by both birds of the pair in a low vertical riverbank, or sometimes a quarry or other cutting. The straight, gently inclining burrow is normally 60–90 cm (24–36 in) long and ends in an enlarged chamber.[6] The nest cavity is unlined but soon accumulates a litter of fish remains and cast pellets.
The Common Kingfisher typically lays five to seven (range two to ten) glossy white eggs, which average 1.9 cm (0.75 in) in breadth, 2.2 cm (0.87 in) in length, and weigh about 4.3 g (0.15 oz), of which 5% is shell. One or two eggs in most clutches fail to hatch because the parent cannot cover them. Both sexes incubate by day, but only the female at night. An incubating bird sits trance-like, facing the tunnel; it invariably casts a pellet, breaking it up with the bill. The eggs hatch in 19–20 days, and the altricial young are in the nest for a further 24–25 days, often more. Once large enough, young birds will come to the burrow entrance to be fed. Two broods, sometimes three, may be reared in a season.
> Feeding
The Common Kingfisher hunts from a perch 1–2 m (3–6 ft) above the water, on a branch, post or riverbank, bill pointing down as it searches for prey. It bobs its head when food is detected to gauge the distance, and plunges steeply down to seize its prey usually no deeper than 25 cm (10 in) below the surface. The wings are opened under water and the open eyes are protected by the transparent third eyelid. The bird rises beak-first from the surface and flies back to its perch. At the perch the fish is adjusted until it is held near its tail and beaten against the perch several times. Once dead, the fish is positioned lengthways and swallowed head-first. A few times each day, a small greyish pellet of fish bones and other indigestible remains is regurgitated.
The food is mainly fish up to 12.5 cm (4.9 in) long, but the average size is 2.3 cm (0.91 in). Minnows, sticklebacks, small roach and trout are typical prey. About 60% of food items are fish, but this kingfisher also catches aquatic insects such as dragonfly larvae and water beetles, and, in winter, crustaceans including freshwater shrimps
A challenge for any diving bird is the change in refraction between air and water. The eyes of many birds have two foveae (the fovea is the area of the retina the greatest density of light receptors), and a kingfisher is able to switch from the main central fovea to the auxiliary fovea when it enters water; a retinal streak of high receptor density which connects the two foveae allows the image to swing temporally as the bird drops onto the prey. The egg-shaped lens of the eye points towards the auxiliary fovea, enabling the bird to maintain visual acuity underwater. Because of the positions of the foveae, the kingfisher has monocular vision in air, and binocular vision in water. The underwater vision is not as a sharp as in air, but the ability to judge the distance of moving prey is more important than the sharpness of the image.
Each cone cell of a bird’s retina contains an oil droplet which may contain carotenoid pigments. These droplets enhance colour vision and reduce glare. Aquatic kingfishers have high numbers of red pigments in their oil droplets; the reason red droplets predominate is not understood, but the droplets may help with the glare or the dispersion of light from particulate matter in the water.
> Status
This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles). It has a large population, including an estimated 160,000–320,000 individuals in Europe alone. Global population trends have not been quantified, but populations appear to be stable so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Photography : Aditya roy
151218-M-JH956-672
A freight specialist cuts wood for a shipping crate Dec 18. in the distribution management office aboard Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan. Freight is one of three section within the Distribution Management Office along with ersonal property shipping office and passenger transportation office. These three sections are responsible for transporting everything from a Marine’s couch back to the United States to ammunition for riflemen deployed all across the world.
Photo by Cpl. Daniel Jean-Paul
Western Power Distribution (South West) plc, Bell 206B-3 JetRanger, G-MFMF at the Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare 15th May 2010
This is a photo of the food distribution centre that Human Appeal International setup in Somalia to help the people affected by the famine.
We distribute food parcels containing essential food items that are sourced locally to accommodate for custom and taste. Each parcel is designed to last a family for one month.
Please check the following link for more information about our appeal for East Africa - bit.ly/east-africa-appeal
LA County Library employees Patricia Martinez Maturano, left, and Barbara Montoya load food into a car at a food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at Victoria Park in Carson, Oct. 9, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
These are the photographs of the cloth distribution made to the children of village Mahabadia.distt.Bhopal on 30.07.2011.The eagerness with which the children and women are waiting to have their turn for receiving the clothes shows the imoratnce of the clothes for these people who are just hand to mouth.We have been proivding clothes to the few villages since last 3 years.Besides this we have also an inititiave of Grain school.Women working as daily wage labourer pare provided basic education of Hindi writing and reading and to suport them they are provided certain qunaity of Grain every month.For further details pls visit our site ahmabhumika.org
Truck : Daf XG 3-axle with city refrigerated semi-trailer
Company : MMI Distribution (Culina Group)
Date : 28/07/2025
Location : Edinburgh (Scotland)
Food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at Deputy Pierre W. Bain Park/Eastside Pool in Lancaster, Nov. 24, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
A press release is a great way to get the news out about a new product or service a company is offering. In order for consumers to learn about these products and services, they need to receive information about them. This is where the news release distribution service comes in.
Food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at Citrus College in Glendora, Dec. 8, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
This is a photo of the food distribution centre that Human Appeal International setup in Somalia to help the people affected by the famine.
We distribute food parcels containing essential food items that are sourced locally to accommodate for custom and taste. Each parcel is designed to last a family for one month.
Please check the following link for more information about our appeal for East Africa - bit.ly/east-africa-appeal
This is a photo of the food distribution centre that Human Appeal International setup in Somalia to help the people affected by the famine.
We distribute food parcels containing essential food items that are sourced locally to accommodate for custom and taste. Each parcel is designed to last a family for one month.
Please check the following link for more information about our appeal for East Africa - bit.ly/east-africa-appeal
LA County Parks & Recreation employee Jeremiah Washington, loads food into a car as Library employee Carol Zelaya, left, talks with the driver at a food drive-thru giveaway hosted by the County of Los Angeles and L.A. Regional Food Bank at Victoria Park in Carson, Oct. 9, 2020. (Photo/Michael Owen Baker)
Hassan Ali, 56 years old, collects seeds from a trader in Bullo Jadiid village, Baidoa district, 250km south of Mogadishu, Somalia. FAO is running a seed voucher programme in conjunction with local traders.
Read more about FAO and Somalia.
Photo credit must be given: ©FAO/Ismail Taxta. Editorial use only. Copyright FAO