Belted Kingfisher, male
Megaceryle alcyon
Belted Kingfisher · San Diego · 6 March 2026
A male Belted Kingfisher on a perch over a San Diego pond, at the western edge of a range that covers nearly all of North America. Kingfishers need clear water to see fish in and a bank to dig a nest tunnel into, and a park pond with both will hold one all winter.
A shaggy blue-grey crest and a single grey breast band with no rufous below it: the plain white belly marks a male. Females carry a second, chestnut band across the flanks that males lack entirely, one of the few North American birds in which the female is the more boldly marked.
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