Megaceryle maxima
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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. The first formal description of the giant kingfisher was by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1769 under the binomial name Alcedo maxima. The current genus Megaceryle was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848.
There are two subspecies: The giant kingfisher is 42–46 cm (16.5–18 in) long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly. The forest race M. m. gigantea is darker, less spotted above, and more barred below than the nominate... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 2 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 5 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 8 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Giant Kingfisher sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 225th most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Giant Kingfisher in Hwange National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July–August and October–May, the lowest months. Those are among Hwange National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 150 mm in January.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Giant Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
23rd of 38
Of the 38 parks where we can rate Giant Kingfisher sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 23rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 50%), Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 40%) and Lower Zambezi National Park (Zambia, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Alcedinidae
The closest relatives of the Giant Kingfisher that you can see in Hwange National Park (family Alcedinidae, Kingfishers) are Pied Kingfisher (about 10%), Brown-hooded Kingfisher (about 10%) and Striped Kingfisher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Giant Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (14 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
