I believe this specie is the most common in
Peninsula Malaysia. Breed in Dec-Mar if not a loner as usual. They have adapted
well on wetland and hither land as well as urban areas. White-throated
Kingfishers as a group eat a wide range of food, but each bird may specialise
in a particular prey. They take fish (particularly during the wet season). But
other prey make up the bulk of their diet. These include tadpoles,
grasshoppers, lizards, insects. They basically take any small creature that
they can catch and kill.While hunting along the water, they prey on crabs, amphibians (frogs) and reptiles (skinks, lizards). On land, they hunt large insects and arthropods (grasshoppers, beetles, termites, scorpions, centipedes). They beat these against their perch to kill and remove venomous stings. They even take small mammals (rats, mice, voles), snakes up to 65cm long, and nestling birds.
The male features: Medium size(28cm); throat and breast white, but no white collar; head and rest of underpart chocolate brown. Wings, tail and back turquoise; bill large (6-7cm), red; feet red. Its other half brown parts not so dark. Juvenile: Duller; bill initially dark; fine dark scallops on white breast; lesser wing-coverts mottled black. It beak is rather disproportionate to its body
Call: Described as a loud shrill whinnying kek-kek which trails off; a harsh repeated klip; a piercing staccato laugh. Loudest I must say.
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