Green Kingfisher

The Green Kingfisher is a small, sharply patterned kingfisher found along quiet streams and rivers near the U.S.-Mexico border. Both sexes have glossy dark green upperparts finely spotted with white and a clean white collar and underparts, but the sexes differ in their breast markings: males show a solid rufous-chestnut band across the chest, while females show a band of green spots. Its small size and preference for narrow, shaded waterways set it apart from its larger relatives.

Key Field Marks

• Small size, the smallest kingfisher regularly found in the United States
• Dark, glossy green upperparts finely spotted with white
• White collar and underparts
• Male: solid rufous-chestnut breast band; female: green spotted breast band

Similar Species

• Belted Kingfisher is much larger with a shaggy blue-gray crest and blue-gray, not green, upperparts.
• Ringed Kingfisher is much larger with entirely rufous-chestnut underparts.

Habitat

Green Kingfishers favor small, quiet streams, rivers, and pond edges, often in shaded or partly wooded settings, perching low over the water.

Range

In the United States they occur locally along the Rio Grande in south Texas and in parts of southeastern Arizona, with a much broader range through Mexico, Central America, and South America.

Migration

The species is largely nonmigratory, remaining resident year-round within its range.

Behavior

Green Kingfishers are typically solitary and often perch low, close to the water's surface, on branches or rocks along the stream edge, bobbing their heads and flicking their tails.

Voice

Calls include sharp, high-pitched "tik" or "click" notes, often given in a rapid series when the bird is disturbed and flies off low over the water.

Feeding

They hunt by watching from a low perch and diving to catch small fish and aquatic insects, relying on stealth and a low vantage point rather than the higher hovering flight of larger kingfishers.

Nesting

Like other kingfishers, Green Kingfishers excavate a burrow into an earthen bank near water, where the female lays her eggs in a chamber at the end of the tunnel.