A small Kingfisher with brilliant Malachite-blue colouring and a bright orange-red bill. Size 14-15 cm - smaller than a sparrow.   Afrikaans: Kuifkopvisvanger

As with other Kingfishers, the bill is long, straight and dagger like. It is bright red in colour - as are the feet and legs. The eyes are brown.

The Malachite Kingfisher has brilliant metallic blue upperparts. The top of the head is greenish-blue with fine black barring. Below the level of the eye, the face is a orange brown. There is a prominent white elongated patch from the ear to the back of the head. The underparts are orange-brown.

This species is associated with waterside reeds, which provide it with a perch from which to hunt. It is usually seen singly or in pairs on the edges of dams, vleis, wetlands, rivers and streams. They are normally observed sitting motionless on a reed or other perch, about a foot or more above the water. It often bobs it's head upright, in order to judge distance better.

It eats fish, frogs, aquatic insects, crabs and tadpoles, which are caught by plunging into the water.

The call is a thin, high pitched chichichichi.

The Malachite Kingfisher breeds from August to November. The nest is typical of kingfishers, being a tunnel in an earth bank not far from the water.