Green Kingfisher Gallery

Chloroceryle americana


The All About Birds website provides this basic description for the Green Kingfisher:  In bright sunlight the Green Kingfisher sparkles like an emerald, but it is easy to overlook along dense, shaded streams where it forages for fish. It is a small, green-and-white kingfisher with an impressively large bill, and typically much less conspicuous than the noisy Belted Kingfisher. Females have two neat green bands across the breast; males have a contrasting rust-red chest. The Green Kingfisher barely makes it into the United States in southern Arizona and Texas, but its range extends south through South America, nearly to Patagonia.

I saw and photographed my first Green Kingfisher on the morning of August 19, 2023 in the Amazon Basin Region of Brazil.  Our small group with Jeff Parker Tours was at Southwild’s Fazenda São Nicolau located on the Juruena River west of Alta Floresta.  That morning we were up early for a boat ride on the river when we spotted a Green Kingfisher in a tree next to the river.  During our time on the water that morning we saw several female Green Kingfishers and got some excellent looks.  I was so excited to see and photograph this bird.  I had seen one in Arizona, but it was a fleeting glance and I was unable to get a photograph. For a more detailed description of the trip that included my sighting of this bird look at this blog post.  Here are some of my photos of this beautiful bird. 

The next morning (Agust 20, 2023) we were once again in one of the Soutwild small boats.  We were headed toward the ferry landing and spotted a male Green Kingfisher perched by the side of the river.  Here are a couple of photos I took that day.  Note the rufous breast, identifying the bird as a male.


The All About Birds website provides these “Cool Facts” about the Green Kingfisher:

  • Like other kingfishers, Green Kingfishers have two forward-facing, partially fused toes. (This is known as a “syndactyl” toe arrangement.) As the adults excavate the nest burrow with the bill, they use these toes to push the soil back out toward the burrow entrance like a small shovel.
  • Green Kingfishers do not build a traditional nest, instead laying their eggs on bare soil at the end of a nest burrow. As the adults incubate the eggs and feed their young, remains of meals such as fish scales, bones, and insect wings pile up around the nest chamber.
  • The sturdy bill of the Green Kingfisher is not just a tool for fishing, the bird uses it to hammer into hard-packed soil to build the nest burrow. A careful look at an adult’s bill tip during the early part of the nesting season sometimes reveals signs of abrasion or damage.
  • The oldest Green Kingfisher was 5 years old when he was recaptured and released during a banding operation in Texas.