Belted Kingfisher
Megaceryle alcyon
Stocky and large-headed with a shaggy crest. Bill is long, straight, thick, and pointed. Powder blue above with white underparts and blue breast band. Females have additional rusty band across belly. Almost always solitary, perched along edges of streams, lakes, and estuaries. Flies along rivers and shorelines giving loud rattling calls. Hunts for fish by plunging headfirst into the water, either directly from a perch or hovering.
Identification
The belted kingfisher is a stocky, medium-sized bird that measures between 28–35 cm (11–14 in) in length with a wingspan of between 48–58 cm (19–23 in). This kingfisher can weigh from 113 to 178 g (4.0 to 6.3 oz). The adult female averages slightly larger than the adult male.<p>This species has a large head with a shaggy crest. Its long, heavy bill is black with a greybase. These features are common in many kingfisher species. This kingfisher shows reverse sexual dimorphism, with the female more brightly coloured than the male. Both sexes have a slate blue head, large white collar, a large blue band on the breast, and white underparts. The back and wings are slate blue with black feather tips with little white dots. The female features a rufous band across the upper belly that extends down the flanks. Juveniles of this species are similar to adults, but both sexes feature the rufous band on the upper belly. Juvenile males will have a rufous band that is somewhat mottled while the band on juvenile females will be much thinner than that of adult females.
Taxonomy
The first formal description of the belted kingfisher was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He introduced the binomial name Alcedo alcyon. The current genus Megaceryle was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. Megaceryle is from the Ancient Greek megas, "great", and the existing genus Ceryle. The specific alcyon is Latin for "kingfisher".<p>The Megaceryle large green kingfishers were formerly placed in Ceryle with the pied kingfisher, but the latter is closer to the Chloroceryle American green kingfishers. The belted kingfisher's closest living relative is the ringed kingfisher (M. torquata), and these two in all probability originated from an African Megaceryle which colonized the Americas.
- Scientific name
- Megaceryle alcyon
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Alcedinidae
- Genus
- Megaceryle
Range and habitat
The only kingfisher in the majority of its range, the belted kingfisher's breeding habitat is near inland bodies of waters or coasts across most of North America, within Canada, Alaska and the United States. They migrate from the northern parts of its range to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies in winter. It is a rare visitor to the northern areas of Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas. During migration it may stray far from land; the species is recorded as an accidental visitor on several Pacific islands, such as Cocos Island, Malpelo Island, Hawaii, the Azores, Clarion Island, and has occurred as an extremely rare vagrant in Ecuador, Greenland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The southernmost records of M. alcyon are from the Galapagos Archipelago, insular Ecuador, where it occurs as a migrant in small numbers but apparently not every year.<p>It leaves northern parts of its range when the water freezes; in warmer areas, it is a permanent resident. A few individuals may linger in the north even in the coldest winters except in the Arctic, if there are remaining open bodies of water.
- Breeding range
- NA : widespread
- Non-breeding range
- MA, n SA
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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