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The Belted Kingfisher is pigeon-sized, blue-grey above, and white below, with a bushy chest. The have a prominent, dagger-like bill and short tail. Both sexes have a blue-grey chest band, however, the female also has a chestnut band below this and extends down each flank.
Always found near water in the Algonquin Highlands, the Kingfisher perches on a limb over the water, waiting until they see a minnow, at which time they will lunge into the water. If they are successful, they will return to that perch, or another one near by, and hammer the prey with their large bill. This helps to soften the fish before eating it whole. The Belted Kingfisher, and other flesh-eating birds, cannot digest bones. Instead they will cough up pellets of indigestible material, such as bones and scales. The Kingfisher often patrols a regular area along a stream or lakeshore, stopping at its favorite perches and uttering its loud rattling call between them.
Unlike other birds, the Belted Kingfisher burrows horizontal tunnels into a sand or gravel bank, making its burrow in an unlined chamber 1 to 3 metres inside. Here females lay 5 to 8 white eggs. Very few birds burrow for nesting.
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BELTED KINGFISHER
Ceryl alcyon
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