Amazon Kingfisher

Description:

It is 29–30 cm long and weighs 110g. It has the typical kingfisher shape, with a short tail and long bill. It is oily green above, with a shaggy crest and a white collar around the neck. It lacks the white markings on the wings shown by Green Kingfisher. Largest of the upper Amazon Kingfishers. Males have white underparts apart from a broad chestnut breast band and some green streaks on the flanks. Females have white underparts with green patches on the side of the chest and green flank streaks. Young birds resemble the adult female, but have white spots on the wings. There are no recognised subspecies of Amazon Kingfisher.

Habitat:

resident breeding bird in the lowlands of the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America to northern Argentina, with at least one bird having strayed north to Texas. This large kingfisher breeds by streams. The unlined nest is in a horizontal tunnel made in a river bank, and up to 1.6 m long and 10 cm wide. The female lays three, sometimes four, white eggs.