Bird
Bird
Green Kingfisher
Chloroceryle americana
The Green Kingfisher is the smallest and most understated of Trinidad's kingfishers, a compact, dark green bird that perches quietly over slow streams and forested rivers, easily overlooked next to its larger, noisier relatives.
The Green Kingfisher is the smallest and most understated of Trinidad's kingfishers, a compact, dark green bird that perches quietly over slow streams and forested rivers, easily overlooked next to its larger, noisier relatives.
Identification
A small kingfisher around 18 to 20 cm long, with glossy dark green upperparts spotted with white, a white collar, and a stout black bill. Males show a broad rufous breast band; females instead have a green breast band and rufous flanks. It is noticeably smaller than the Amazon, Ringed, and Belted Kingfishers with which it shares Trinidad's waterways.
Behaviour
Hunts from low perches directly over the water, usually less than 2 m above the surface, plunge-diving for small fish and aquatic insects along quiet, shaded rivers, streams, and forest pools. It is less conspicuous than larger kingfishers, favouring narrower, more sheltered waterways with overhanging vegetation, and nests in a burrow excavated into an earthen riverbank.
Status in T&T
Present along forested rivers, streams, and quiet freshwater habitats across Trinidad, generally in smaller numbers than the more common Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers. Not threatened, though dependent on clean water and intact riverbank vegetation for foraging and nesting. It is protected as native wildlife under the Conservation of Wildlife Act.
Threats
- Riverbank erosion and vegetation clearance affecting nesting burrows
- Water pollution reducing fish prey
