Pied Piper

This photograph features a pied kingfisher resting on a reed in the Xakanaxa Lagoon in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The birds have a distinctive black and white plumage and are common in the sub-Saharan wetlands. Kingfishers are popular birds and have appeared as symbols in the mythology of many cultures, from Ancient Greece (Alcyone and Ceyx), to the Cherokee (How The Kingfisher Got His Bill) and the Andamanese, who say that the kingfisher stole fire from the gods.