Belted Kingfisher
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- Last Updated: February 22, 2021
Spend some time at Wiley Slough in the spring, and you may see several Belted Kingfishers noisily chasing each other as territories and mates are being established. Kingfishers utilize both salt and freshwater habitats and are as much at home in an estuary as they are in your backyard if you have a fishpond! Kingfishers depend on earthen banks for nesting and the burrows they dig can have tunnels 3-6 feet long. Both parents help prepare the nest site and raise 1-2 broods of 5-8 eggs each. How do you tell a male Kingfisher from a female Kingfisher? The female has a rusty band across her chest and the male does not. Photo by Joe Halton.