At 1115 hrs on 1 January 1987, I saw a White breasted Kingfisher on the parapet of a nullah near my house in Panchwati Udaipur. The bird had a frog in its beak.

It started beating the frog on the parapet, then flew to a tree in the compound of our house and started beating the frog on a branch.

I tried to photograph it, but it was disturbed and flew further up into dense foliage. It beat the frog on the branch for half an hour. At 1145 hrs it started swallowing the frog.

It took 10 minutes to swallow it and in the meanwhile it excreted four times. While swallowing it was breathing heavily and this state remained for 15 minutes. When the legs of the frog disappeared into its gullet, it remained in a stiff position. Meanwhile some bird of prey flew overhead and many birds either ducked or flew away, but the kingfisher remained still.

To see the reaction of the bird I beat the trunk of the tree and made noises, but it did not move. The bird remained in this state for four minutes. Then it started moving its head and gradually its breathing became less heavy. After 20 minutes of the swallowing of the frog, the kingfisher flew away.

Published in Journal of Bombay Natural History Society:

Tehsin, R. (1989) Feeding Behaviour Of Whitebreasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrenesis,Linn.) J. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc. 86: 449