On the afternoon of 24 January, Robert Epstein and Alan Wormington found a female Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) at Zacate Creek in downtown Laredo, Texas. Photographs were obtained. If accepted, this would become the first ABA-area record for this tropical kingfisher species.
Photograph of female Amazon Kingfisher from the Pantanal region of Brazil, Jan. '04. Bill Maynard
Amazon Kingfisher, the largest green (as the Latin Chlorceryle suggests) kingfisher in the Americas, is usually associated with tropical lowlands or lower subtropical zones. This kingfisher hunts from a perch, and is often seen flying low over the water. It is resident on Mexico's Atlantic Slope from southern Tamaulipas, south to Argentina and Uruguay. On the Mexican Pacific Slope, it is found from southern Sinaloa south, and also locally in the interior from the Isthmus south (Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, Howell and Webb). Considered sedentary, a few vagrants have been discovered in Trinidad (HBW, Volume 6). In Costa Rica, Amazon Kingfishers being breeding from January through March. Birders, start your engines.
I have this same bird in my backyard pond and believe it's a Belted or a green Kingfisher
Posted by: texasnature | February 01, 2010 at 07:01 PM
texasnature,
If this were a [male- females show rufous flanks and banded upper belly] Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) I would expect to see: a grey base at the bill, a continuous white band across the neck and throat, and a larger spot of white near the lores... if a [female- males show a rusty breast] Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) I would expect to see the characteristic white markings on the wings and tail (and a similarly uninterrupted white collar)... I am sure this is indeed a female Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona)
Posted by: David Hilmy | February 10, 2010 at 09:24 AM
A little Jurassic Park, huh?
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