This morning I had what I believe to be a female Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)visit our pond. The strange thing is that instead of being the classic slate blue-gray, this one was jet black,but still had all the classic markings. Could it be just a color variation or a different species of Kingfisher all together?
Thanks!
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Kingfisher
medd
Feb 16, 2006 10:15 AM
Replies (1)
khorner
Apr 11, 2006 02:02 PM
This sounds like quite an odd bird, and an exciting sighting! My guess would be that this is a colour deviation on a belted kingfisher. The only other kingfisher species in North America reside in the far south, and are quite notably different than the belted (and not black). I'm not aware of any black kingfisher species in the rest of the world either (though I could be wrong...). I'd say it's an oddball belted. If anyone knows any different, I'd be interested to find out!
Kyle
