Belted Kingfisher, female
Megaceryle alcyon
Belted Kingfisher · Constitution Marsh · 17 October 2026
A female Belted Kingfisher calling from a dead tree above Constitution Marsh, crest up and bill open. Kingfishers fish clear water across the whole of North America, and each holds its own stretch of shoreline, announcing it with a loud, dry rattle that is usually the first sign one is about.
The rusty band across the belly marks her as a female, and makes her the more colourful of the pair; a male has only the blue-grey band across the breast. It is one of very few North American birds where the female is the brighter, and nobody has a settled explanation for it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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