Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon
Belted Kingfisher, female, 2/9/08, Shoreline Lake, Mpuntain View
Adult females, shown above and below, have a slate-blue bar at the base of the throat and a rufous bar in mid-breast.


Belted Kingfisher, female, 8/21/05, Jetty Road, Moss Landing, Monterey Co
Belted Kingfisher, male, 12/19/04, Shollenberger Park, Petaluma, Sonoma Co
The adult male shows no rufous and only the single slate-blue bar.
Belted Kingfisher, first-winter female, 11/10/10, Shoreline Lake, Mountain View
The flying kingfisher shown above and below is identifiable as a female by the two bars across the breast, and as an immature bird by the fact that the lower bar has mixed rufous and slate, rather than pure rufuous. The bird was flying back and forth with two adults, calling constantly; presumably it was begging for continued feeding from its parents. Birds of North America Online reports that kingfishers normally feed their young birds for about three weeks after they fledge; this interaction, in November, was probably well past that time.
Belted Kingfisher, first-winter female, 11/10/10, Shoreline Lake, Mountain View
Belted Kingfisher, first-winter female, 10/6/06, Stevens Creek north of 101
Above, another immature female, with the lower breast-bar incomplete. Immature birds, seen here and in the two
flight pictures, lack the full crest shown by adults, below and in the top three pictures.
 
Belted Kingfisher, female, 11/26/07, Shoreline Lake, Mountain View