Page 37 - NT Birds of a Feather

Another name for the kingfisher is ‘halcyon’. In a Greek legend, a married couple, called Alcyone and Ceryx, were very much in love. When Ceryx was caught up in a terrible shipwreck, Alcyone was so upset that she jumped into
the sea to be with him. To allow the couple to be together again, the Greek gods transformed them both into ‘halcyon birds’, named after Alcyone, and today those birds are known as kingfishers.
Alcyone’s father made the weather calm once a year so that the two birds could return to land and safely lay eggs. Because of this, the name ‘halcyon’ is now not just used for kingfishers – it
is also used to describe a time of calmness in the wider world.