CreatureData

Giant kingfisher

Megaceryle maxima (Pallas, 1769)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is a species in the family Alcedinidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh 325 g to 377 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima)
Photo: Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the giant kingfisher

Weight
325 g – 377 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3.5 – 3.9src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Photos of the giant kingfisher

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima)
derivative work: Snowmanradio ( talk ) Megaceryle_maxima_-Zimbabwe-8.jpg :… · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the giant kingfisher live?

Not recorded

What is the giant kingfisher?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert, other than the arid southwest.

From the Wikipedia article “Giant kingfisher” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giant_kingfisher&oldid=1380578583), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the giant kingfisher endangered?

The giant kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the giant kingfisher classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCoraciiformes
  5. familyAlcedinidae
  6. genusMegaceryle
  7. SpeciesMegaceryle maxima (Pallas, 1769)

Synonyms Ceryle maxima

Other names and names in other languages (42)
  • GIKIEnglish
  • ReusevisvangerAfrikaans
  • رفراف عملاقArabic
  • Голямо черногърбо рибарчеBulgarian
  • alció gegant africàCatalan
  • rybařík velkýCzech
  • pysgotwr mawrWelsh
  • KæmpestødfiskerDanish
  • RiesenfischerGerman
  • giganta alcionoEsperanto
  • Martín gigante africanoSpanish
  • hiid-kuningkalurEstonian
  • ماهیخورک عظیمPersian
  • afrikankeisarikalastajaFinnish
  • Alcyon géantFrench
  • Martin-pêcheur géantFrench
  • crnoglavi vodomarCroatian
  • óriás halkapóHungarian
  • Martin pescatore giganteItalian
  • オオヤマセミJapanese
  • didysis keršasis tulžysLithuanian
  • Afrikaanse reuzenijsvogelDutch
  • kjempeisfuglNorwegian
  • rybaczek wielkiPolish
  • وڈا مچھی مارWestern Panjabi
  • pica-peixe-gigantePortuguese
  • Guarda-rios gigantePortuguese
  • guarda-rios-gigantePortuguese
  • guarda-rios-gigantesPortuguese
  • Гигантский зимородокRussian
  • Гигантский пегий зимородокRussian
  • rybárec obrovskýSlovak
  • orjaški pasatSlovenian
  • Džinovski vodomarSerbian
  • jättekungsfiskareSwedish
  • Büyük Afrika YalıçapkınıTurkish
  • seInwediTswana
  • рибалочка-чубань африканськийUkrainian
  • Bói cá khổng lồVietnamese
  • 大魚狗Chinese
  • 大鱼狗Chinese
  • isiVubaZulu

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the giant kingfisher

Other species in the same genus Megaceryle.

CompareGiant kingfisher vs Belted kingfisherGiant kingfisher vs Crested kingfisherGiant kingfisher vs Ringed kingfisher

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the giant kingfisher?

An adult giant kingfisher weighs 325 g – 377 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the giant kingfisher endangered?

The giant kingfisher is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the giant kingfisher?

The giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) belongs to the family Alcedinidae in the order Coraciiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-kingfisher

MLA

“Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-kingfisher.

BibTeX
@misc{giant_kingfisher_2026,
  title = {Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-kingfisher},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}