GNoR BIG -Picture Gallery: Woodland Kingfisher eating a Bat

While the diet of many species of bats is often difficult to record, it is also not always that easy to discover the number of enemies that bats may have that in turn eat some of them. But the opportune observation of a constantly alert Colin Bell, best known for his expert bird guiding, has given us some interesting information about a previously unknown predator of small Bats.

It was at about 5pm on the afternoon of 19th February 2005, when Colin Bell arrived at the reception at Satara Camp, Kruger National Park, that he found a couple quizzically observing a Woodland Kingfisher, Halcyon senegalensis, perched about three metres above the ground with a Bat being slowly devoured. The body was partly down the kingfisher’s gullet and not visible, while the wings were clearly visible exposed either side of the bird’s adequate beak.

The Woodland Kingfisher feeds primarily on insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, beetles from several genus, cockroaches, caterpillars and grubs, moths and butterflies, cicadas, dragonflies, ants and winged termites. Birds of Africa Vol III (Academic Press/Helm) – C Hilary Fry, Keith and Urban – also lists scorpions and millipedes, and from a limited amount of ‘fishing’ shrimps, small fish to 4 to 5cms and frogs to 8cms. They are also recorded as feeding on small lizards, snakes up to 12 to 13cms and blindworms. There is a single record of a Bronze Mannikin, Spermestes cucullatus, being taken as a food item, and the only mammal prey item recorded is a mouse, which was taken to unsuccessfully feed the chicks.

It seems safe to assume that this is the first publicized and recorded event of a Bat being captured for food by a Woodland Kingfisher. But we do not have any idea which species of Bat it was and how it was captured. At a guess, it would seem likely to be a small pipistrelle, serotine or molossid type bat, and as woodpeckers feed by day – the time of observation was between 17.00hrs and 17.15hrs – when this bat species type is unlikely to be in flight in February, I think it is reasonable to assume that the bat was captured from behind loose bark or a split in the branch of a tree while roosting.

Since Colin Bell photographed this interesting Woodland Kingfisher food item, the pictures have been circulated amongst a number of his friends and colleagues in the bush. Information has come back that Mike Myers observed a Lilac Breasted Roller, Coracias caudata, eating a bat (unknown species and no description) near a waterhole in the Linyati, Botswana, within his bush experiences over some twenty-five years.

Another bit of information came from Gary Douglas, who moved a juvenile bat onto some low vegetation under a Baobab, Adansonia digitata, close to his home in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, during his later youth years, to observe it’s mother retrieve it. In a letter about this event Gary Douglas states, “To my horror a Woodland Kingfisher came down and skewered the writhing batlet through the centre and flew up above where it quickly swallowed it”. Gary recounts how he was mortified and has never forgotten the incident.

But Gary Douglas also records that he ‘recalls how in nearby Sisal, a bat had flown right onto a spike and skewered itself deep along the leaf’. There is no mention of bat species.

It is well known, of course, that many species of larger birds are frequent predators of bats. The specialized crepuscular avian hunter, the Bat Hawk, is probably the most famous bat eater at dusk and dawn, while several other birds of prey including Wahlberg’s Eagle (information from Geoff Lockwood), African Goshawk, Gabar Goshawk and Barn Owl are all amongst the more accustomed Bat hunters. Several species of falcon and sparrowhawk are reputed to also capture bats for food.

	It would seem that the unfortunate Bat is being swallowed rear-end first, from the position of the wings facing forward and that there seems not to be any of the body of the Bat remaining within the bill of the kingfisher while the wings are still sticking out both sides of the bill.

We are very grateful to Colin Bell for granting permission for the use of his photographs in this article. I would also like to thank Colin for providing the spark much of the interesting information recorded here, as without such fascinating field records, this type of information would never be available to science and the public.

If you have any bat pictures that are not protected by copyrights, please e-mail them to the Your name will be acknowledged. Please give all details regarding place, date or season, species (if known) & any other relevant observations. We are looking forward to your contributions!

Letter received from Norman Le Roux about a similar incident at Satara camp on the 12th or 13th January 2007

I read the account of a woodland kingfisher eating a bat with interest. I have recently returned from a visit to the kruger park and saw a similar incident.

The camp was again Satara where woodland kingfishers seem to rule the roost, each chasing other birds (all species) out of it's "territory". Relaxing in the hot afternoon (about 2:00 pm) I saw a dark object about 1/3 or perhaps 1/4 the size of a woodland kingfisher fall from a large tree, followed by a woodland kingfisher. The kingfisher caught the object within about 2 meters and flew to an adjacent tree and began beating the life out of what ever it caught. Having my binoculars around my neck I quickly focussed and was surprised to see that the victim was a bat! I raised the alarm and the rest of the family charged out to also have a look with the result that the kingfisher flew a bit further away to beat the bat against a branch some more. I never saw the kingfisher swallow the bat, but could see the bat being beaten for about two minutes before the kingfisher flew off presumably to swallow the bat away from all the exited people.

This was observed in the Satara camp on the 12th or 13th January 2007. Unfortunately no photos.

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Woodland Kingfisher eating a Bat