Amazon Kingfisher

How to find it

Scan branches that overhang the water along rivers, mangrove channels, estuaries and lagoon edges. It is often seen perched there before it dives for a fish. Watch for it returning to the perch to beat its catch before swallowing it. Mornings and afternoons are when it hunts. Listen for shrill whistles and rattles, which often come before the sighting. A boat helps: a photographer on the Río Frío found the kingfishers much less skittish than the Belted Kingfisher at home, and the boat got surprisingly close.

How to recognise it

Start with size. This is the largest of the green-backed kingfishers, about 29 cm long.

The upperparts are dark glossy green. The bill and feet are black, and a white collar circles the neck. The crest is shaggy and the bill is long and heavy.

Males have a broad rufous chest band and white underparts with some green streaks on the flanks. Females have no rufous and show green patches on the sides of the chest instead.

Juveniles show buff spots on the upper wing and a yellow patch on the bill.

What it sounds like

Recording: Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually alone or in pairs. It perches on a branch over the water, then dives for fish, sometimes after hovering above the surface. It often returns to a nearby perch, beats the fish on a branch and swallows it head first.

Only about 30 percent of dives succeed. It hunts mainly in the morning and the afternoon. Across its range it nests in a horizontal tunnel dug into a river bank, up to 1.6 m long, where the female lays three, sometimes four, white eggs.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives across much of the country near rivers, pools and lakes, below about 1200 m elevation. A natural history entry describes it locally on both coasts, from sea level up to roughly 900 m.

Look over slow or fast rivers, mangrove channels, estuaries and lagoon edges. Across its range it prefers open landscapes to dense forest, using large rivers, wooded lake shores, freshwater and brackish lagoons, mangroves and tidal estuaries.

When to see it

A Costa Rican natural history entry says breeding runs from January to March.

Similar birds

It looks like the Green Kingfisher but is much larger, about three to four times as heavy, and lacks that species' white wing markings. A male Belted Kingfisher can be mistaken for a female Amazon, but a male Amazon's rufous upper breast settles it. Ringed is far bigger. In poor light size is hard to judge, so take your time. Green-and-rufous Kingfisher is a similar size but prefers shady places.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican name is Martín pescador amazónico. Elsewhere in Latin America it is called pechicanelo in Nicaragua and matraquero in Colombia and Venezuela.

Status and conservation

It is listed as a resident (R) on the AOCR list, and the IUCN rates the species Least Concern, though a decline is suspected.

Photography tips

Photographers get it perched on a bare twig and in flight. The San Carlos River is one place where it has been photographed this way. A boat lets you approach closely, and the birds tend to be calm.