Green Kingfisher

How to find it

Boat trips let you approach river birds closely, and one photographer reported seeing many Green Kingfishers on the Tárcoles River from a boat. A slow drift is the easiest way to meet this bird.

Scan low, shaded perches over the water: overhanging branches, roots, fence posts and mid-stream rocks. Because it stays fairly inactive, check each likely perch carefully rather than waiting for movement.

Listen for the rattles and shrill whistles, which often come before the bird appears. In mangroves, watch for a quick flash of green darting past.

How to recognise it

Look for a small kingfisher about 18 cm long, with a dark metallic green back and white spots on the wings.

The tail carries a conspicuous white flash. Much of the white sits on the outer tail feathers, and it shows best in flight.

Both sexes have green upperparts with rows of white spots on the flight feathers.

Males have a deep rusty chest and a white belly.

Females lack the rusty colour and show one or two greenish bands across the chest, the lower band often incomplete.

For its body the bill looks fairly small, which helps when you compare it with larger kingfishers.

What it sounds like

Recording: Kozue Kawakami, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Green Kingfisher often perches on a low, shaded branch near water before diving for fish, and it also eats aquatic insects. Across its range it hunts from an overhanging branch or root about one to two metres above the water, or sometimes a mid-stream rock, watching for small fish near the surface.

It can be fairly inactive, sitting on any perch with a view over the water, from a fence post to a high branch. It also glides with flat wings.

Across its range it nests in a horizontal tunnel about one metre long, dug into a stream or river bank, and the female lays three or sometimes four eggs. In Guanacaste Conservation Area a nest with chicks was recorded in a stream at the Los Almendros biological station.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica the Green Kingfisher is resident across the country and locally common in the lowlands of both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes. It reaches up to about 1,200 m elevation, so foothill streams can hold it too.

Across its range it always stays near water. It prefers wooded streams, rocky watercourses, flooded forest, coastal mangroves and rocky shores.

It has been photographed in Guanacaste Conservation Area, including along a stream in the El Hacha sector.

When to see it

Breeding season in Costa Rica runs from February to April, the time when birds hold territories along stream banks and call to mark them.

Similar birds

The main look-alike is the Amazon Kingfisher, which is much larger, with a thicker bill and a longer crest. The Green has spots on the wings and a smaller bill for its body. The American Pygmy Kingfisher has a white belly and is smaller, while the Green is a bit larger and has spotted wings.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Martín Pescador Verde. Elsewhere in Latin America it goes by Martín Pescador Chico (small kingfisher), so the Costa Rican name is the 'verde' version.

Status and conservation

Resident (R) on the AOCR list, and listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Photography tips

Seen from a drifting boat, Green Kingfishers can be photographed at close range, and one photographer got an uncropped frame on the Tárcoles River. Look for a low, shaded perch over the water and let the boat drift in quietly.