Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon Scientific name definitions

This species account is dedicated in honor of John Foote, member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Administrative Board.

The Belted Kingfisher, one of the most widespread landbirds in North America, remains poorly studied. Throughout the continent, it inhabits diverse aquatic habitats where it typically perches over clear open water before plunge-diving for prey-chiefly fish, but also other aquatic animals such as crayfish. Undigested remains of such prey are regularly regurgitated as pellets, which fall beneath fishing and roosting perches. By studying these pellets, some information on seasonal diets can be determined without collecting birds or directly observing their foraging behavior.

Although the Belted Kingfisher breeds at northern latitudes, and occasionally winters there if open water is available, most individuals migrate, some as far south as northern South America. Solitary except while breeding, both males and females of this species vigorously defend their territories along shorelines of lakes or rivers throughout the year. They do this with strident vocalizations, especially a reverberating mechanical rattle, and by aerial chases. Indeed this kingfisher's Rattle Call is given at the slightest disturbance, and people are likely to hear this bird before seeing it.

The availability of suitable nesting sites-earthen banks where nesting burrows can be excavated-appears critical for the distribution and local abundance of this species. This kingfisher prefers to excavate a nesting burrow near its fishing territory, raising a single brood annually. Burrows may be reused, but site tenacity is weak.

In some regions, human activities such as the digging of sand and gravel pits have created nesting sites that have stimulated population growth and enhanced opportunities for range expansion. Despite this species' diet, environmental contaminants do not seem to have affected its productivity as with other fish-eating birds.

Research on Belted Kingfishers in North America has focused primarily on foraging ecology, responses to environmental pollutants, and nest habitat selection. The diet and feeding behavior of this species are well documented (see Terres 1968 Terres, J. K. (1968). Kingfishers eating bullfrog tadpoles. Auk 85:140. Close , Kelly 1996b Kelly, J. F. (1996b). Effects of substrate on prey use by belted kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon): A test of the prey abundance - Availability assumption. Canadian Journal of Zoology 74 (4):693-697. Close , Kelly 1996a Kelly, J. F. (1996a). Ecological response to variable resource distributions: effects of prey availability on Belted Kingfishers. Ph. D. diss., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins. Close , Cairns 1998 Cairns, D. K. (1998). Deit of cormorants, mergansers, and kingfishers in northeastern North America. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Close , Kelly 1998a Kelly, J. F. (1998a). Behavior and energy budgets of belted kingfishers in Winter. Journal of Field Ornithology 69 (1):75-84. Close ), and there are related studies of nutritional requirements (Vessel 1978 Vessel, R. D. (1978). Energetics of the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). Ph. D. diss., Oregon State Univ., Corvallis. Close ), courtship feeding (Hamel 1976 Hamel, D. (1976). Courtship feeding in Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). Canadian Field-Naturalist 90:495. Close ), effects on prey communities (Gotceitas and Godin 1991 Gotceitas, V. and J. G. J. Godin. (1991). Foraging under the risk of predation in juvenile Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.) - effects of social-status and hunger. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 29 (4):255-261. Close , Parkhurst et al. 1992 Parkhurst, J. A., R. P. Brooks and D. E. Arnold. (1992). Assessment of predation at trout hatcheries in central Pennsylvania. Wildlife Society Bulletin 20 (4):411-419. Close , Gotceitas and Godin 1993 Gotceitas, V. and J. G. J. Godin. (1993). Effects of aerial and in-stream threat of predation on foraging by juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 118:35-41. Close , Winkelman 1996 Winkelman, D. L. (1996). Reproduction under predatory threat: Trade-offs between nest guarding and predator avoidance in male dollar sunfish (Lepomis marginatus). Copeia 1996 (4):845-851. Close , Englund and Krupa 2000 Englund, G. and J. J. Krupa. (2000). Habitat use by crayfish in stream pools: influence of predators, depth and body size. Freshwater Biology 43 (1):75-83. Close , Steinmetz et al. 2003a Steinmetz, J., S. L. Kohler and D. A. Soluk. (2003a). Birds are overlooked top predators in aquatic food webs. Ecology 84 (5):1324-1328. Close , Steinmetz et al. 2003b Steinmetz, J., S. L. Kohler, D. A. Soluk and I. G. Cowx. (2003b). "Experimental manipulation of great blue heron and belted kingfisher predation rates on stream fish." In Interactions between fish and birds: implications for management., edited by I. G. Cowx, 314-321. Oxford, MA: Fishing News Books. Close ), and the relationships between food availability and reproduction (Kelly and Van Horne 1997a Kelly, J. F. and B. Van Horne. (1997a). Effects of food supplementation on the timing of nest initiation in Belted Kingfishers. Ecology 78 (8):2504-2511. Close , Albano 2000 Albano, D. J. (2000). A behavioral ecology of the Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcoyn). Ph. D. diss., Univ. of Massachusetts, Amhearst. Close ). Kingfishers have also been studied as bio-indicators of environmental toxins, especially mercury contamination (Landrum et al. 1993 Landrum, C. L., T. L. Ashwood and D. K. Cox. (1993). Belted Kingfishers as ecological monitors of contamination: a review. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Close , Moore et al. 1999a Moore, D. R. J., B. E. Sample, G. W. Suter, B. R. Parkhurst and R. S. Teed. (1999a). A probabilistic risk assessment of the effects of methylmercury and PCBS on mink and kingfishers along East Fork Poplar Creek, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 18 (12):2941-2953. Close , Lane et al. 2004b Lane, O. P., D. C. Evers, D. J. Albano, T. Haines and R. J. Taylor. (2004b). Belted Kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) as indicators of methylmercury availability in aquatic systems. Gorham, Maine: Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Close , Evers et al. 2005 Evers, D. C., N. M. Burgess, L. Champoux, B. Hoskins, A. Major, W. M. Goodale, R. J. Taylor, R. Poppenga, and T. Daigle (2005). Patterns and interpretation of mercury exposure in freshwater avian communities in northeastern North America. Ecotoxicology 14: 193–221. Close ). Finally, the unique burrowing behavior of kingfishers has drawn many to attempt to identify the primary factors associated with preferred nesting habitat (Davis 1982b Davis, W. J. (1982b). Territory size in Megaceryle alcyon along a stream habitat. Auk 99:353-362. Close , Brooks and Davis 1987 Brooks, R. P. and W. J. Davis. (1987). Habitat selection by breeding Belted Kingfishers. American Midland Naturalist 117:63-70. Close , Shields and Kelly 1997 Shields, S. J. and J. F. Kelly. (1997). Nest-site selection by belted kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) in Colorado. American Midland Naturalist 137 (2):401-403. Close , Sullivan et al. 2006 Sullivan, S. M. P., M. C. Watzin and W. C. Hession. (2006). Differences in the reproductive ecology of belted kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) across streams with varying geomorphology and habitat quality. Waterbirds 29 (3):258-270. Close ) and document the use of human-modified landscape features as burrow sites (Hamas 1974 Hamas, M. J. (1974). Human incursion and nesting sites of the Belted Kingfisher. Auk 91:835-836. Close , Hopkins 1980 Hopkins, Jr., M. N. (1980). Belted Kingfisher nesting in sawdust pile. Oriole 44:22. Close , Weber and Miller 1981 Weber, W. C. and P. R. Miller. (1981). Belted Kingfishers nesting in abandoned sawdust piles. Mississippi Kite 11:48-49. Close , Kiviat et al. 1985 Kiviat, E., R. Schmidt and N. Zeising. (1985). Bank Swallow and Belted Kingfisher nest in dredge spoil on tidal Hudson River. Kingbird 35:3-6. Close ).