Belted Kingfisher

Megaceryle alcyon

Written by Kathy Richards and edited by Chris Coyle

HABITAT:

Found across much of North and Central America, and occasionally wintering in Venezuela and Columbia.  It is a year round resident in southern New England, depending on the severity of the weather.  Lives near ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams as well as reservoirs.  Also, vernal pools and especially small clear bodies of water.  Prefers grasslands with a few scattered trees and forest edges.  Must have ground cover (plants) that has a good insect population.  In the winter they will move to the forest interior with oaks, beeches or similar trees.

Megaceryle alcyon femelle "Mike" Michael L. Baird, CC BY 2.0

BEHAVIOR:

Hunts, fishes, while flying over waterways.  When it spots its prey, it will plunge headfirst into the water.  Will roost and nest in dead trees.  It will use its feet to scratch out a nest.  It uses its bill to make it deeper.

NESTING:

The male and female work together in making the nest chamber which is hollowed out of the side of a high sandy clay bank.  It has a 4-15 inch passageway ending in an enlarged rounded area large enough for it to turn around.  The nest may be reused multiple times.  The eggs are laid between early May to early June.  There are usually about eight eggs.  The nest is lined with the indigestible fish bones and scales which the parents throw up.  The parents take turns sitting on the eggs and with feeding the chicks once hatched.

FOOD:

Fish (the main staple of their diet), crayfish, insects, mollusks, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and occasionally fruit.

PREDATORS:

Hawks, which can catch them in flight.  Also, mammals and snakes, that are able to catch them and their young and eggs in their burrows.