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Kingfisher Belted Kingfishers, as their name suggests, subsist mostly on fish. However, they occasionally consume other prey, including crayfish, shellfish, squid, and terrestrial prey such as small birds, mammals, lizards, and insects. They have even been reported to eat berries when other food is unavailable. Belted Kingfishers typically sit at a waterside perch watching for suitable prey, usually small fish less than six inches in length. They make steep dives head-first into the water. They may hover and plunge vertically from heights of up to 50 feet into the water, occasionally disappearing completely for a few seconds. They catch most fish within two feet of the surface. To stop the dive, they spread their wings under water. After catching a fish, they will beat their prey on a perch to immobilize it, then toss it into the air and swallow it head-first. They may dismember other prey, such as crustaceans and insects, before consuming them. They disgorge indigestible parts of prey such as fish bones and scales, which may accumulate under favorite perches. The nest site of a Belted Kingfisher is almost always a tunnel excavated near the top of a vertical bank. Nests may be several miles from fishing grounds. Kingfishers may thus have to defend two territories, one for feeding and the other for nesting. They prefer sandy soil at the nest site, but they may use gravel pits and even the soil caught in the roots of fallen trees if necessary. A pair takes turns digging a burrow three to four inches in diameter using their beaks and feet until the nesting chamber is three to six feet from the entrance and slightly uphill of it. The nest chamber is about one foot across and six inches high. The female lays six or seven entirely white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs for 23 to 24 days. The chicks hatch, naked and blind, and their eyes remain closed for another two weeks. With their sheathed feathers, the chicks resemble tiny porcupines until the 17th or 18th day when the sheaths break and expose full-grown feathers. The parents share in the feeding of the young, announcing themselves with a rattling call as they land on a dead limb outside the burrow with a meal of fish. Only one parent at a time enters the burrow. When the young leave the nest after about one month from hatching, they practice retrieving fish dropped by their parents. They begin fishing for themselves after ten days out of the nest. Pairs separate after breeding and defend individual feeding territories. During the breeding season, Belted Kingfishers range as far north as the Aleutian islands, central Ontario and Labrador, and south throughout the United States as far as southern California, southern Texas and the Gulf Coast. In winter they occupy the West Indies and as far south as Panama and the northern coast of South America. Some remain in the summer range, as far north as they can find open water. Belted Kingfisher Range Map Belted Kingfishers are one of a few species of North American birds whose females are more colorful than males. Females have a chestnut band across the belly that is absent in males. Belted Kingfishers are unlikely to be confused with any other bird. Their huge bill, large head with shaggy crest, and coloring are distinctive. They are large (11 to 13 inches long) with blue-gray head and upperparts contrasting with the white underparts. Both sexes have a white collar and broad band of blue-gray across the chest. Females have chestnut flanks (usually concealed below the folded wing) and a second chestnut band across the belly. The large head and bill contrast with the tiny legs and short tail, making Belted Kingfishers look top-heavy. Visit Shaw
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