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Amazon Kingfisher | Chloroceryle amazona
Amazone-ijsvogel | Martín pescador amazónico
The Amazon Kingfisher is a large green kingfisher of rivers and lakes on the mainland of Central and South America. In the Caribbean it is a vagrant: there are records from Aruba, Curaçao and Trinidad, the islands closest to the South American mainland.
Voice
A loud, harsh, repeated tek or klek and a staccato chrit that may run into a rattle.
Recording: Franco Vushurovich — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
29–30 cm, with a large head, a short crest and a long, heavy, black bill. The upperparts are dark bronzy green, with hardly any white in wing or tail. A white collar separates head and back; chin and throat are white. The male has a broad rufous breast band and a white belly with green streaks on the flanks. The female lacks the rufous and has a green, sometimes broken breast band. Juveniles are somewhat paler, with pale spots on the wing coverts.
Confusion species
Green Kingfisher Chloroceryle americana has the same pattern but is much smaller, with a slimmer bill, clear white spots on the wings and white outer tail feathers. Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon and Ringed Kingfisher Megaceryle torquata are blue-grey, not green, above.
Habitat
On the mainland along large rivers, wooded lake shores and freshwater lagoons, sometimes brackish lagoons and mangroves; it avoids dense forest. It hunts fish from a perch over water. Records in the region come from fresh and brackish water near the coast.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Vagrant to Aruba, Curaçao and Trinidad; it does not breed in the region. On the mainland from Mexico through Central America and South America east of the Andes to northern Argentina.
How and when to look
A green kingfisher of this size on the ABC Islands or Trinidad needs careful comparison with Green Kingfisher: size, the heavy bill and the lack of white wing spots are decisive. Records are worth documenting.
Conservation status
Globally not threatened. A vagrant in the Caribbean.
Scientific name
Chloroceryle amazona | (Latham, 1790)
Latham described the species in 1790 as Alcedo amazona; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chloroceryle was introduced in 1848 by Kaup. Chloroceryle combines Greek khlōros 'green' with the genus Ceryle: 'green Ceryle', after the green upperparts. amazona refers to the Amazon, the river basin where the species is widespread. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.