Kingfisher in length and between in weight. The largest kingfisher in Africa is the giant kingfisher ("Megaceryle maxima"), which is in length and in weight. The familiar Australian kingfisher known as the laughing kookaburra ("Dacelo novaeguineae") is the heaviest species with females reaching nearly in weight. The plumage of most kingfishers is bright, with green and blue being the most common colours. The brightness of the colours is neither the product of iridescence (except in the American kingfishers) or pigments, but is instead caused by the structure of the feathers, which causes scattering of blue light (the Tyndall effect). In most
Black-capped paradise kingfisher underparts are a pale yellowish buff. The bill and feet are orange. The subspecies "T. s. leucura" differs only in having completely white tail feathers. Black-capped paradise kingfisher The black-capped paradise kingfisher or the black-headed paradise kingfisher ("Tanysiptera nigriceps") is a bird in the tree kingfisher subfamily, Halcyoninae. It is native to several islands in the Bismarck Archipelago to the east of New Guinea. Like all paradise kingfishers, this bird has colourful plumage with a red bill and long distinctive tail streamers. The first formal description of the black-capped paradise kingfisher was by the English lawyer and zoologist Philip Sclater