Ringed Kingfisher

How to find it

Scan branches overhanging water, where it sits patiently before diving. It often perches in the open, so look for a prominent perch over shallow water. Watch the sky too, because singles or pairs often fly high overhead giving loud calls. Boat trips are a good way to get close, and tour groups often do the lower Tárcoles trip in the late afternoon. A mangrove boat ride at Carara in the afternoon has given good views. One group watched a bird swallowing a fish from a perch visible from their Tárcoles lunch stop.

How to recognise it

This is a large kingfisher with a slate-blue back, a white collar and a rust-colored chest. Across its whole range it is the largest kingfisher in the Americas.

Look for these marks:

Males are slate gray above, with a rufous breast below the white collar.

Both sexes have white spots in front of and behind the eye.

The male has a cleaner chestnut belly below the collar.

The female usually has an extra bluish-gray band across the breast.

In Costa Rica its high perches, long bill and rufous belly set it apart from the smaller kingfishers.

What it sounds like

Recording: Nicolas Olejnik, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It dives for fish from a branch, stump or power line over the water, and it usually picks higher perches than other kingfishers. It often sits on exposed branches or wires near water. Between water bodies it flies high and straight, and it lives alone or in pairs.

In Costa Rica it breeds in the dry season, when streams run low. The nest is a tunnel 2 to 2.5 m long dug into a sand bank, with an unlined chamber at the end.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in mangroves, river edges, streams, lagoons, fresh or salt ponds, estuaries and tidal channels. It uses both dry and wet forest and open country.

It is a fairly common resident of the lowlands on both slopes and sometimes reaches elevations close to 900 m. A few records lie above 1,000 m, such as Santo Domingo de Heredia at 1,125 m, and authors suggest its altitude range may be expanding. Natural history accounts list it in the Amistad Caribe, Cordillera Volcánica Central, Guanacaste, Osa, Pacífico Central, Tempisque, Tortuguero, Amistad Pacífico, Huetar Norte and Arenal conservation areas.

When to see it

It can be seen year-round, and one source says it is most active in early morning and late afternoon, and in the dry season when water is low. The breeding season is given as January to April, which is the dry season.

Similar birds

The Belted Kingfisher has white underparts apart from a breast band, while the Ringed has almost all rufous underparts and is much bulkier. On a Tárcoles boat trip the two have perched side by side, which gives a direct size comparison. The Green Kingfisher prefers dense low growth and low perches near the water, while the Ringed prefers an open view and is about twice the size.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Martín Pescador Collarejo. Other Spanish names include Martín Pescador Grande, Martín Gigante Neotropical and Martín Pescador de Collar. Martín Pescador Grande is the name used in Guatemala, Honduras and Panama.

Status and conservation

The Ringed Kingfisher is a resident (R) on the AOCR list, classed as Least Concern with a large, stable range.

Photography tips

Roadside wires can offer a first look, but the river edge gives much closer views. One photographer got a first Ringed Kingfisher on a Tárcoles River boat tour in the early evening, with the bird perched near the river. Another bird sat at the very top of a tree before flying off, so keep your lens ready for high perches.