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
Giant kingfisher Giant kingfisher The giant kingfisher ("Megaceryle maxima") is the largest kingfisher in Africa, where it is a resident breeding bird over most of the continent south of the Sahara Desert other than the arid southwest. The first formal description of the giant kingfisher was by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1769 under the binomial name "Alcedo maxima". The current genus "Megaceryle" was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. There are two subspecies: The nominate subspecies "M. m. maxima" occurs in wooded savanna while "M. m. gigantea" prefers tropical rainforest. The giant kingfisher is long,