Kingfishers | Alcedinidae

IJsvogels | Martines pescadores

Of the hundreds of kingfisher species worldwide, only three occur in North America, all large fish-eaters in the genera Megaceryle and Chloroceryle. Where no suitable perch overhangs the water, they instead hover in place before plunging straight down; indigestible bones and scales from the prey are then coughed up as small pellets. A rattling, chattering call, often given in flight, marks out a long, narrow territory along a shoreline or stream and is, in all three species, never a proper song. Unusually for a North American bird, the females of these kingfishers also carry an extra coloured breast band that the males lack.