ABSTRACT
The aptly named kingfishers are an entertaining group of birds, as they use their long and disproportionately large and heavy bills to dive into rivers, ponds, lakes, and marshes after minnows and aquatic invertebrates, although some, particularly Old World taxa, have adapted to drier lands and eat a variety of insects, reptiles, and small mammals. Kingfishers have zygodactylous feet on short legs, with two toes pointed forward and two pointed backward. Diversity peaks in Australasia, whereas only six species are present in the New World. Kingfishers may follow a Complex Basic Strategy, although a Simple Basic Strategy has been suggested as a possible alternative. However, an alternative interpretation could be that because the juvenile plumage is structurally sound, kingfishers may instead have an absent or limited first cycle preformative molt (FPF), not including flight feathers, and what has been interpreted as the FPF is instead the second prebasic molt (SPB). This may be more consistent with molting strategies of some Old World kingfishers.
