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Green Kingfisher | Chloroceryle americana
Groene ijsvogel | Martín pescador verde
The Green Kingfisher is a small, green-and-white kingfisher of streams and ponds on the American mainland. In the region it occurs only on Trinidad and Tobago. It flies fast and low over the water and perches on low branches or stones at the water's edge.
Voice
A dry tick or tick-tick, like two pebbles struck together, and a harsh, buzzy scold.
Recording: Franco Vushurovich — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 20 cm, with a long black bill and a small crest. The upperparts are dark glossy green, with rows of white spots on the wings; the outer tail feathers are largely white, most obvious as the bird flies off. A white collar runs round the neck; throat and belly are white, with green spots on the flanks. The male has a broad rufous breast band. The female lacks rufous; she has a buffy breast with a band of green spots across breast and upper belly. Juveniles are duller, with small pale spots on crown and wing coverts.
Confusion species
Amazon Kingfisher Chloroceryle amazona, a vagrant, has the same pattern but is much larger, with a heavier bill and hardly any white in wing and tail. American Pygmy Kingfisher Chloroceryle aenea is smaller, with a rufous collar and largely rufous underparts.
Habitat
Wooded banks of streams, rivers and ponds with clear, still or slow-flowing water, also reservoirs, fish ponds and mangrove edges. It hunts small fish from a low perch. It nests in a tunnel about a metre long in an earth bank.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Resident on Trinidad and Tobago, on both islands along streams and ponds. On the mainland from southern Texas through Mexico and Central America to central Argentina and Chile.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Trinidad and Tobago along wooded streams and at ponds and reservoirs. A small green bird flying off fast and low over the water, flashing white in the tail, is often this species.
Conservation status
Globally not threatened. In the region confined to Trinidad and Tobago, where it is fairly common locally.
Scientific name
Chloroceryle americana | (Gmelin, 1788)
Gmelin described the species in 1788 as Alcedo americana; 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. americana is Latin for 'American', after its range. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.