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Ringed Kingfisher | Megaceryle torquata
Amerikaanse reuzenijsvogel | Martín pescador grande
The Ringed Kingfisher is the largest kingfisher in the region. It lives on Trinidad and, as a distinct subspecies, on a few mountainous islands in the Lesser Antilles. It hunts from a high perch over rivers and reservoirs and is often first noticed by its loud call in flight.
Voice
A loud, harsh klek or kek, often in flight, and a rattle that is lower and louder than that of Belted Kingfisher.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
40–41 cm, large and heavily built, with a ragged crest and a very long, heavy bill, dark with a paler base. Head, back and wings are blue-grey, with a broad white collar and a white throat. In the male the entire breast and belly are rufous, the undertail coverts white. The female has a blue-grey breast band, below it a narrow white band and then a rufous belly. In flight the underwing coverts are white (male) or rufous (female). Lesser Antillean birds, subspecies Megaceryle torquata stictipennis, are darker above and have small white spots on the secondaries.
Confusion species
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon is smaller and always has a white belly: the male only a blue-grey breast band, the female a rufous band below it. Amazon Kingfisher Chloroceryle amazona is smaller and green above.
Habitat
Rivers, streams, reservoirs, lakes and fish ponds, also mangroves and river mouths; in the Lesser Antilles mainly along rivers in forested valleys and at inland lakes. It perches high over water on branches or wires and dives for fish, sometimes after a brief hover. It nests in a long tunnel in a steep earth bank.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Resident on Trinidad and, as Megaceryle torquata stictipennis, on Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique; scarce on Martinique. Rare on Tobago. Vagrant to Barbados, the ABC Islands and San Andrés. On the mainland from southern Texas and Mexico through Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Trinidad at reservoirs, rivers and Caroni Swamp; on Dominica and Guadeloupe along the larger rivers. A bird flying high over the water with a loud call is often this species.
Conservation status
Globally not threatened. The Lesser Antillean population is small and confined to a few islands.
Scientific name
Megaceryle torquata | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Alcedo torquata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Megaceryle was introduced in 1848 by Kaup. Megaceryle combines Greek megas 'great' with the genus name Ceryle, setting the large kingfishers apart from the smaller ones. torquata is Latin for 'collared', after the white collar. The specimen the first description was based on came from Martinique and Mexico.