Belted Kingfisher

Description:

Adult Description •Medium-sized bird. •Large head and shaggy crest. •Large, thick bill. •Bluish head and back. •White throat and collar. •White underneath with blue breast band. Male Description Belly white, without rufous band. May have rufous flanks and some reddish in blue chest band. Female Description Rufous flanks and band across chest below the blue band. Rufous tips to feathers in blue chest band. **I took this info from the All About Birds site. I listed the URL in the references

Habitat:

This female was diving down into the water, taking her fish back to a tree and eating it in a little off-road pond on Rte 47 near Elburn, Illinois.

Notes:

This is the first Kingfisher I have ever seen. A friend and I were watching an Egret fish when suddenly I heard a loud screeching and I see a smaller, darker bird scoop along the water and take a fish up to the tree. I was far away and hurriedly snapped a few shaky images. I had to really zoom in on the picture to see what kind of bird it was. What a fun suprise to discover that is was a Belted Kingfisher! I posted one blurry, bad shot of the male. He is eating a fish. I saw the famale a minute later in another tree.