Animal Diversity Web

Geographic Range

The geographic range of Megaceryle alcyon (belted kingfisher) includes all of the land masses within the Neartic region, including northern territories of Canada, mainland United States, and all of Greenland. The range of belted kingfishers extends as far south as Panama. Belted kingfishers nest in a slightly smaller range that extends from central Alaska to southern California and the southern Yucatán and from central Labrador and Newfoundland to southern Florida. (Sibley, 2003; Terres, 1991)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habitat

The habitat of belted kingfishers requires a body of water, often surrounded by forest, that features nearly vertical exposed earth for digging burrows in which it nests. Example habitats include lake or river banks, but also cuts from roads and railways and pits of sand and gravel. Acceptable bodies of water include rivers, ponds, streams, coasts, and lakes. Males seek higher-order waterways with more herbaceous plant life than trees, which have less obstructions that block nesting. The waters must be clear and have areas of smooth water so that belted kingfishers can detect prey. Higher, steeper banks are preferred as a defense against both flooding and predation. Availability of perches is also important for belted kingfishers as a visual vantage point for locating prey. Exposed banks are essential for shelter and nesting sites. Desirable breeding habitat characteristics are the same as desirable non-breeding habitats. Belted kingfishers occur up to 2743 meters elevation. (Coues, 1874; Fry, 2003; Sibley and Monroe, 1990)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial
• freshwater

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• temporary pools
• coastal

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

• Range elevation

  0 to 2743 m

  0.00 to 8999.34 ft

Physical Description

Belted kingfishers have proportionally larger heads than most bird species of a similar size. The head is fully feathered and features a tall prominent crest. The feathers on the occiput and nape are slightly taller than the center of the crest, resulting in a doubly pointed crest. Their bills are heavy and tapered to a point providing them with an advantage when diving head-first into the water for prey. Their bill is generally longer than their head. The nostrils are narrow slits with a broad operculum overlapping. Belted kingfishers have relatively short wings. They have 11 primary feathers and 12 to 15 secondary feathers. Belted kingfishers are a stout birds weighing an average of 150 grams. Their feet are proportionally small, the tarsus is short, and the tibia is featherless. The hallux is shorter than the inner and outer most toes. The inner toes are fused together, which is known as syndactyly. This fusion results in what appears to be a single long flattened toe which the bird uses to excavate nesting cavities. The outermost toe is as long as the fused toes, and at the end of each toe is a sharp pointed claw. (Ridgway and Friedman, 1914; Sibley, 2003; Terres, 1991)

The large head and crest of belted kingfishers is a slate-blue. There is a white dot of the lores between the eye and the bill. The neck has a white collar that wraps around the neck almost entirely, and below that white collar there is a dark band that wraps around the uppermost portion of the breast and connects to the slate-blue back. The remaining underside of the male is white. Belted kingfishers exhibit an infrequent display of avian sexual dimorphism, where the female is more colorful than male. The female has another rufous band below the shared dark band which is separated by a small white patch. The back of both sexes is the same slate-blue color as the head, but the greater primary coverts display a white wing-patch. On average, belted kingfishers are 32.2 cm tall and have a wingspan of 58.8 cm. (Ridgway and Friedman, 1914; Sibley and Monroe, 1990; Terres, 1991)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• female more colorful

• Average mass

  150 g

  5.29 oz

• Average length

  33.2 cm

  13.07 in

• Average wingspan

  58.8 cm

  23.15 in

Reproduction

Male belted kingfishers establish a breeding territory that attracts females. This typically encompasses 800 to 1,200 meters of shoreline. Belted kingfishers establish their territory around April, roughly one month before females return from their winter location. If the birds females wintered in the same region where they will breed, the female will be accepted into the male’s territory in early May. Belted kingfishers are seasonally monogamous, and form a pair that works together during nesting. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

Belted kingfishers are seasonally monogamous, and form a pair bond that works together during nesting. After courtship is complete, belted kingfishers excavate a nesting cavity. These are preferably constructed close to a fishing site but have been recorded as much as 1.6 km away. Both males and females are formidable diggers and take turns to excavate the nest, using both their bills and specially adapted feet. Belted kingfishers have two fused toes, which act like a shovel during digging. Eggs are laid in the back of a tunnel dug into the bank. This cavity in total averages 15.24 by 25.40 cm. Entrances to the tunnel are placed between 0.30 and 0.91 meters from the top of the bank, and average 10.16 cm wide and 8.89 cm tall. The tunnel will often incline as depth increases. Depths of these tunnels are typically between 0.91 and 1.82 meters deep but have been recorded as deep as 4.57 meters. Construction takes 3 days to 3 three weeks depending on substrate characteristics. Heavy rain events can delay digging for 2 or 3 days. Sbterranean obstructions are avoided or, in some cases, the nest is abandoned. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Belted kingfishers breed once a year between the months of April and July, depending in part on their geographic location. In some southern states breeding events may occur twice in one year. Females lay 5 to 8 oval, glossy white eggs in the back of the nesting cavity which hatch in 23 or 24 days. Newly excavated cavities require eggs to be laid on the bare dirt. With time or reuse of nesting cavity, a collection of indigestible material (bones, scales, exoskeletons) may pad the floor of the nest; feathers, grasses, straw, moss, and twigs have been infrequently recorded. At birth, hatchlings weigh 9 to 13 grams, and young fledge after a minimum of 23 days. It takes approximately six weeks before the fledglings become independent. Both the male and female reach sexual maturity approximately one year later. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Belted kingfishers breed once a year in northern states, but have been recorded to breed twice in the southern parts of their breeding range.

• Breeding season

  Breeding season occurs in April and May while pair bond is finishing construction of their nest.

• Range eggs per season

  5 to 8

• Average eggs per season

  7

• Range time to hatching

  23 to 24 days

• Range fledging age

  23 (low) days

• Average time to independence

  6 weeks

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 years

The female is the primary incubator, but both of the adults participate. The female is responsible for all nocturnal incubation, and little is known about the male’s nocturnal roosting site. Some males roost in a shallow dugout near the primary nesting cavity. When one mate comes to relieve the other from incubating, he or she will perch near to the entrance and call. At this time the other mate will exit before the caller enters. After an incubation period of 23 or 24 days, hatching occurs within a 12 to 18 hour period. Attentive brooding by the female occurs for the first 3 to 4 days and then begins to taper off. By the 6th day, brooding comes to a complete halt. During that brooding period the male feeds twice as much as the female. Food provisions begin with very small fish or even regurgitated food. Later on, crayfish, tadpoles, and even insects are incorporated into their diet. Young belted kingfishers consume their body weight in food each day. Once provisions cease and the young develop feathers, they are forced out of the nest. At this time, adults begin training by dropping fish into the water and making the young retrieve it. About a week after leaving the nest, the young are able to catch crayfish on their own. Within 2 to 3 weeks, they develop proficient predatory skills over most prey items. Young will move into dense foliage near the present waterway. At this time adults observe from their regular perches, likely to serve as protectors. Once the young are about 6 weeks old, they are fully independent. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• male parental care
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

No literature was found on the lifespan of belted kingfishers.

Behavior

Belted kingfishers are diurnal birds. They are also considered fossorial because of their excavating behavior during the nesting season. Most of the geographic range has a mild winter and can support belted kingfishers year round, and migration usually occurs based on food source availability. Once belted kingfishers establish their territory, they are relatively confined to that location. Outside of the breeding season, the territory of a belted kingfisher can be 300 to 500 meters of shoreline. Little is known about their roosting habits outside of the breeding season, but they may utilize shallow hollows in the bank or roost in a tree within their hunting ground vicinity. Within their established territory, belted kingfishers they move up and down the river above the water and below the canopy, searching for food. They perch on fishing posts, usually unobstructed perches over the water from which they spot prey. If a potential threat such as a bird, human, or predator enters that territory, belted kingfishers boldly pursue the intruder and and vocalize loudly until the threat evacuates. Their call is long, loud, and chattering. Wing beats can at times appear unmethodical. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Dewey, 1985; Terres, 1991)

• Key Behaviors
• fossorial
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• sedentary
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  300 to 500 m^2

Home Range

The non-breeding territory of belted kingfishers is 300 to 500 meters of shoreline. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Terres, 1991)

Communication and Perception

Belted kingfishers use sight as their primary means of perception. Their eyes have two fovea which give them the advantage of precise depth perception. Oils within their eyes improve their ability to see color. Their eyes are protected by a nictitating membrane when diving for fish. This membrane does impede their vision so their sense of touch becomes increasingly important after the bird has entered the water. They close their bill when they feel contact with a prey item. All kingfishers are exceptionally vocal. Their calls are used for communication and claiming territory. Belted kingfishers exhibit at least six different calls which they combine in different ways to express different messages. The call most commonly heard by the casual observer is a call used for territory delineation, which is a long, high-pitched chatter or rattle. (Fry, 2003; Sibley, 2003; Terres, 1991; Woodall, 2001)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Belted kingfishers are primarily opportunistic carnivores. They may also eat berries when ideal prey is unavailable. Hunting sites include rivers, streams, small lakes, ponds, and coastal waters. Lakes must be small because wave action makes sighting prey difficult. Their preferred prey is fish, and then crayfish. Belted kingfishers eat fish between 4 and 14 cm in length, but have been recorded consuming fish as long as 17.8 cm. Methods of hunting include still hunting as well as active hunting. The still hunting method, which is more energy efficient, involves perching on an unobstructed and usually dead limb of a tree overlooking the feeding site. When prey is spotted, they dive off the branch toward the water at an angle, entering head first. While active hunting, belted kingfishers hover around 90.14 meters from the surface of the water. Once prey is spotted, they either dive straight down or in a spiraling motion. Shallow, headfirst dives frequently result in an incomplete submersion of the bird. Both of these methods require high water clarity and a shallow depth. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Fry and Fry, 2010; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

Once a prey item has been caught with the bill, they return to the scouting perch. At this point they immobilize the prey by striking it against the limb of the tree or even stabbing the prey with their bill. Then, belted kingfishers toss the prey into the air and consume it head first. If the fish is too large, they leave the fish protruding from its beak, and allow digestive enzymes to break down the first portion of the fish before swallowing the remainder. Similar to an owl, indigestible material such as bones and scales are discarded orally in the form of a pellet. When water is highly turbid, fish are too energetically expensive to pursue, and crayfish become the primary prey item. Belted kingfishers also hunt crayfish when out-competed by mergansers. In colder water, the diet of belted kingfishers includes sculpins and trout. In warmer water, they prey on slower-moving fish including suckers, sticklebacks, perch, and pike. Where fish are unavailable, belted kingfishers consume larval amphibians. Other possible prey items include butterflies and moths, snakes, mollusks, turtles, juvenile birds, small mammals and almost any other insect. Invertebrates such as caddisflies are also are found in their stomachs. However, researchers speculate that prey fish consume the caddisfly rather than belted kingfishers. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Fry and Fry, 2010; Sandilands, 2005; Terres, 1991)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• fish
• insects
• mollusks
• aquatic crustaceans

• Plant Foods
• fruit

Predation

Belted kingfishers have few natural predators, which may include accipiters and falcons, including Cooper's hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and peregrine falcons. When pursued by these birds, belted kingfishers dive under the water repeatedly until the predator ceases pursuit. The light underside and darker back of the kingfisher is a camouflage adaptation. (Bennet and Tiner, 2003; Dewey, 1985; Sibley, 2003; Terres, 1991)

• Known Predators

  • Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii)
  • sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus)
  • peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus)

Ecosystem Roles

Belted kingfishers are top predators in both marine and freshwater aquatic food webs. They do not have any mutualistic intraspecies interaction or parasitize, but serve as a primary host for trematodes (Crassiphiala bulboglossa). (Combes, 2001)

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Belted kingfishers are appreciated by bird enthusiasts.

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Belted kingfishers sometimes prey on fingerlings of fish hatcheries. (Hamas, 1994)

Conservation Status

Belted kingfishers are not endangered and populations appear stable throughout their range. (Hamas, 1994)

• IUCN Red List

  No special status
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  No special status
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Comments

Belted kingfishers were previously known by the scientific name Ceryle alcyon.

Contributors

John Schablein (author), Radford University, Karen Powers (editor), Radford University, Kiersten Newtoff (editor), Radford University, Melissa Whistleman (editor), Radford University, Catherine Kent (editor), Special Projects.

References

Bennet, D., T. Tiner. 2003. The Wild Woods Guide: From Minnesota to Maine, the Nature and Lore of the Great North Woods. New York: Harper Collins.

Carter, A., N. Thomas, B. Hunter. 2009. Parasitic Diseases of Wild Birds. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Combes, C. 2001. Parasitism: The Ecology and Evolution of Intimate Interactions. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Coues, E. 1874. Birds of the Northwest: A Hand-book of the Ornithology of the Region Drained By the Missouri River and Its Tributaries. Oxford University: Govt. Print. Off..

Dewey, J. 1985. Birds of the Great Basin: A Natural History. University of Nevada: University of Nevada Press.

Fry, C. 2003. The New Encyclopedia of Birds. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fry, H., K. Fry. 2010. Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. London: A&C Black.

Hamas, M. 1994. Belted Kingfisher: Ceryle Alcyon. Philadephia, PA USA: American Ornithologist' Union.

Harrison, H. 1998. A Field Guide to the Birds' Nests: United States East of the Mississippi River. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Ridgway, R., H. Friedman. 1914. The Birds of North and Middle America. University of Michigan: Govt. Print. Off.

Sandilands, A. 2005. Birds of Ontario: Habitat Requirements, Limiting Factors, and Status. Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press.

Selendy, J. 2011. Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Sibley, C., B. Monroe. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Sibley, D. 2003. The Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Eastern North America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Terres, J. 1991. The Audubon Society Encylopedia of North American Birds. New York: Wings Books.

Ulrich, T. 1984. Birds of the Northern Rockies. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing.

Wells, D. 2002. One Hundred Birds and How They Got Their Names. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.

Woodall, P. 2001. Family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers). Pp. 130-187 in J delHoyo, A Elliot, J Sargatal, eds. The Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 6, Lynx Edition. Barcelona: Lynx.