Like most midwesterners, I have never seen a Stork-billed Kingfisher. They populate Southeast Asia, from Nepal to the Philippines, living on heavily wooded lakeshores and riverbanks and mangrove -- er -- groves.
One website from Singapore describes their hunting habits:
"Stork-billed Kingfishers eat mainly fishes, using their large heavy bills to good effect to catch and kill their prey. From their perch, usually about 2-4 m above the water, they will plunge into the water.... Prey is brought back and whacked senseless against the perch.*"
This, I want to see. A bird takes its its prey back to its perch and whacks it senseless. Especially one that has this crazy over-sized scarlet beak, a yellow body, and bright blue-green wings. Now there's a mascot for you. Three parts deadly killer and three parts pure circus.
With animals like this on the planet, why would anyone ever need to write fiction?
*http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Pelargopsis_capensis.htm
