Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
Description: A medium-sized bird that has a large head with a shaggy crest, and a long, solid black bill. Males have a white belly, slate blue head and back, white throat and collar, and a white spot by each eye. The white belly is cut in half by a slate blue “belt,” or stripe across it. Females are identical; except for they have a rufous, or reddish, coloring to their flanks, an additional strip across their belly, and sometimes their wingtips.
Habitat: Found along shorelines, wetlands, and along streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries, in both fresh and salt water environments. They tend to choose areas that have vertical sand banks for their nesting and clear water so they can see their prey underwater. They spend their winters along the coast, streams, and lakes.
Diet: Mainly survive on fish, but have been known to eat aquatic invertebrates, insects, and small vertebrates, including crayfish, frogs, and tadpoles. They almost always take food from the water.
Behaviors:
Miscellaneous:
Habitat: Found along shorelines, wetlands, and along streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries, in both fresh and salt water environments. They tend to choose areas that have vertical sand banks for their nesting and clear water so they can see their prey underwater. They spend their winters along the coast, streams, and lakes.
Diet: Mainly survive on fish, but have been known to eat aquatic invertebrates, insects, and small vertebrates, including crayfish, frogs, and tadpoles. They almost always take food from the water.
Behaviors:
- Perch or hover over open water, waiting for prey to swim into sight. They then dive headfirst into the water and attempt to snatch the animal in its bill.
- Kingfishers are very territorial and vigorously, and if necessary violently, defend their territory.
- Seasonally monogamous and their peak breeding time is April to June.
- The male kingfisher chooses a territory that it believes is ideal for breeding and nesting and then courts a female by singing and bringing her fish.
- Both the mother and father work together to burrow into sandy banks and create a long tunnel leading to the nest. These nests have no lining.
Miscellaneous:
- The Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more brightly colored than the male.