Kingfishers belong to the family Coraxiiformes which are large headed, short necked, short legged and mostly large or long billed. Their feet are rather week and their toes short with one or more partly joined for some or most of its length. The tail is moderately long.
Plumages are bright mainly in irredescent or pigmented greens and blues.
There is seldom much plumage difference between sexes and age. They all nest in holes their eggs are unmarked and white and the young hatch naked and blind. There are 86 species of kingfisher distributed throughout the world and many sub species. Kingfishers occur on every continent except the Arctic and the Antarctic.