The Stork-billed Kingfisher

I chose the Stork-billed Kingfisher as the mascot for this blog, mostly because it's just incredibly cool-looking.  Moreso than any of the images of various actual storks I found.  

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