Amazon Kingfisher

Chloroceryle amazona

eBird describes the Amazon Kingfisher this way:  Medium-sized kingfisher of tropical lowlands. Found singly or in pairs, along rivers and at the edges of ponds and lakes, often perched on wires or bare snags. Mainly flies low over the water. Size similar to Belted Kingfisher, but black bill much more massive and crest more tufted. Also differs from Belted in its dark oily-green head and upperparts. Green Kingfisher is much smaller with bold white spots and bars on the wings.

The Birds of the World website introduces the Amazon Kingfisher with this descriptive information: The Amazon Kingfisher is a resident of lakeshores and large-slow flowing rivers from northern Mexico south to central Argentina. They are large dark bronzy green birds with a ragged crest, a white throat and collar, and a white belly; the breast of the male is rufous, while the female has a narrower green breastband. Amazon Kingfishers are superficially similar to the Green Kingfisher Chloroceryle americana, but are much larger with a heavier bill, and typically forage from more conspicuous perches. Amazon Kingfishers hunt fish and crustaceans from a perch, diving into the water to catch their prey and then returning to the same perch before stunning their prey and swallowing it head first. These kingfishers also occasionally hover above the water before diving to catch prey. The nests are excavated by making tunnels into road cuts or erosion gullies near water.

I watched and photographed my first Amazon Kingfisher on the late afternoon of February 10, 2023, while on a boat tour of the Tárcoles River in Costa Rica.  During the boat tour I saw this bird perched on a snag along the river.  

I next saw Amazon Kingfishers during my August, 2023 Trip to Brazil.  Here is a shot of a female in flight that I took while staying at the Santa Tereza Lodge in the Pantanal.