Extreme breeding effort of Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

Abstract

The Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) has a fairly long breeding season in Central Europe. Birds start to breed at the end of March and finish early in September. In this time they can successfully breed two, three or four times per season. The study of kingfisher breeding biology in Danube river system (southwestern Slovakia) brought interesting discovery. In 2018, we documented the extremely long breeding period of an individual breeding pair of Kingfisher at the locality of Fodráska, where the first egg was laid on March 30, while the last young were expected to leave the nest on September 30, 2018. The pair attempted to breed five times, of which three attempts were successful with totally 19 raised chicks. The length of breeding season was estimated on around 185 days. This is one of the longest documented breeding seasons in this species and the latest date of breeding observed in the Central Europe.