Identification

• The typical kingfisher is a medium-sized bird that possesses a large crested head and a big dagger-like bill. The belted kingfisher is the rare bird species in which the female has brighter plumage than the male. The belted kingfisher has a blue-gray head and back with a white throat and ring of white that extends around the neck. The breast is white with the exception of a blue band just below the neck. The ringed kingfisher resembles the belted version but has a chestnut color to its belly. The green kingfisher is a shiny green on top and whitish on the under parts.
  
  

Size

• A belted kingfisher is 11 to 13. 8 inches in length, weighs has a wingspan between 19 and 23 inches and weighs up to 6 oz. The ringed kingfisher is a slightly larger bird. The green kingfisher is the smallest of the kingfishers in the United States, having a length of about 8 inches, roughly the same size as a starling.
  
  

Geography

• The belted kingfisher lives in the summer across all of southern and western Canada. The bird also lives in all but the extreme northern sections of Alaska. The belted kingfisher can be found in all of the lower 48 states. The bird will often winter in Mexico and along coastal areas where freezing winters inland prevent it from fishing. The ringed kingfisher's American range is only in extreme southwestern Texas along the Mexican border. The green kingfisher is also in southwestern Texas as well as southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
  
  

Diet

• The kingfisher diet consists mostly of fish, supplemented by a few invertebrates, smaller insects and vertebrates such as salamanders, mice and crayfish. The kingfisher will observe the water from high up in a perch or while hovering over it. Upon spotting a fish, the bird will go headfirst into the water after it, snatch the fish up with its bill and then kill it by pounding it with its bill.
  
  

Habitat

• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says the territory of a typical kingfisher living along a river or stream is about .6 miles long. Kingfishers will always live near rivers, brooks, streams, estuaries and lakes. The kingfisher will dig a burrow in the soft dirt of a bank found near the water, often taking advantage of man-made gravel pits and sandbanks.
  
  

Considerations

• The kingfisher will escape a hawk by actually diving into the water. The belted kingfisher and ringed kingfisher can produce a harsh rat-a-tat-tat sound, while the call of the green kingfisher is more like the buzz of an insect.