Dominica Botanic Gardens Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies

Source: Dominica’s Birds Ringed Kingfisher-male, Photo: Greg Lasley Ringed Kingfisher-female, Photo: Glen Tepke

Description:A large, strikingly colorful bird, with primarily blue-grey and reddish brown plumage; a Dominica resident, and the largest Kingfisher in the Americas, 38-41 cm long (15-16 in); has a large, pointed beak, a shaggy crest, white collar, blue-grey upperparts, reddish brown (rufous) underparts, with banded black and white tail; male has white undertail coverts; female has a wide, blue-grey band across upper chest with narrow white band at lower edge; the Kingfisher lives largely in trees on the banks of rivers, lakes, swamps and ponds, and feeds on fish, for which it dives headfirst, retrieving its prey with its beak; it also eats small crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, and small mammals, lizards and berries; it is seen occasionally in the economic crops section of the Gardens; click here and here to see its videos and here to listen to its call. References: Arlington James, et al. Dominica’s Birds. Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division, Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, Dominica, 2005 James Bond. Birds of the West Indies. Collins, St James Place, London, 4th Edition, 1979 Herbert Raffaele, et al. Birds of the West Indies. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2003