Animal
Belted kingfisher
Megaceryle alcyon
A blue-grey crested fishing bird — found year-round across most of North America wherever there's open water and small fish. Hovers and dives headlong into water for prey. Distinctive loud rattling call carries far. Common at Staten Island's freshwater ponds, salt marshes, harbor edges. Nests in burrows excavated into vertical banks of streams and shorelines — a rare nesting habit among North American birds.
Scientific
Megaceryle alcyon is a 5 oz fisheating bird, 11–14 inches long, with a heavy bill and shaggy crest. Sexually dimorphic in plumage — females have a rusty band across the chest in addition to the blue-grey upper band. Hunts from perches and from hovering position; dives head-first to grab small fish.
Nests are excavated burrows in vertical banks of streams, ponds, or shorelines — both parents dig the burrow over 1–2 weeks; the burrow can extend 3–8 ft into the bank with a nest chamber at the back. This nesting habit is unusual among North American birds.
Year-round resident in much of its range, though northernmost populations migrate south for winter when freshwater freezes.
On Staten Island
Common at the borough’s freshwater ponds, salt marshes, harbor edges, and tidal creeks. Conspicuous due to size, loud rattling call, and conspicuous hover-and-dive hunting behavior. Year-round on the borough; nesting habitat depends on suitable vertical banks.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Substrate of: [[new-york-harbor-estuary]]
- Member of: [[animal]]
- Contained by: [[staten-island]]
Sources
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird and species accounts
- NYC Audubon SI bird-survey records
Rooted in life.
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