Green-and-rufous Kingfisher

The green-and-rufous kingfisher is about 24 cm (9.4 in) long. Males weigh 40 to 60 g (1.4 to 2.1 oz) and females 53 to 62 g (1.9 to 2.2 oz). It has the typical kingfisher shape, with a somewhat shaggy crest and a long heavy bill. The bill is black with some pale yellow at the base of the mandible and its legs and feet are pinkish to dark gray. The two species have almost identical plumage, and the differences are similar to the variation present in each subspecies. Adult males have glossy green upperparts with a pale yellowish collar. Their upperwing coverts have white tips and their secondaries, tertials, and tail have small white spots. Their chin is yellow-buff, their throat buffy rufous, and the rest of their underparts are a rich dark rufous. Adult females are similar with the addition of a wide band of green with white speckles across their upper breast and more pale spotting on their upperparts. Juveniles resemble adult females with even heavier spotting on the upperparts; both sexes have a green breastband though the male's is thin.

The green-and-rufous kingfisher's nominate subspecies has by far the larger range of the two, and has three separate parts. The first is from southeastern Nicaragua through the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and much of Panama's width into Colombia. The second extends from eastern Colombia east through Venezuela and the Guianas into eastern Brazil and south through most of Amazonian Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The third section of its range is along a narrow strip of southeastern Brazil from Bahia south to Santa Catarina. Subspecies C. i. chocoensis is found in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. An undocumented sight record in Argentina leads the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to class the species as hypothetical in that country. The green-and-rufous kingfisher inhabits streams and rivers, forested swamps, and mangroves. It favors densely vegetated banks and shuns open shorelines. It elevation it ranges from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft).

The green-and-rufous kingfisher hunts from a low perch from which it dives into water for its prey. It favors shaded perches over open ones and does not hover like some other kingfishers. Its diet includes small fish such as those of families Characidae, Cichlidae, and Cyprinodontidae, crabs, shrimps, and aquatic insects.