Crested Kingfisher Megaceryle lugubris
Female Crested Kingfisher, Pho Chu River, Punakha, Bhutan, March 2008 - click for larger image Pho Chu River, Punakha, Bhutan
March 2008

The Crested Kingfisher is distributed from north-east Afghanistan through the Himalayas to eastern China and Japan and south to Indochina, Thailand and Myanmar.

Female Crested Kingfisher, Pho Chu River, Punakha, Bhutan, March 2008 - click for larger image It prefers fast-flowing rivers and streams with a gravel or rocky bed.

It is a large kingfisher with a large crest. Upperparts are black and white barring while below is mainly white with a black and white speckled breast band in the case of the female as shown here. The male has some rufous in the breast band. Note also the pink-cinnamon underwing-coverts visible in photo 2.
Female Crested Kingfisher, Pho Chu River, Punakha, Bhutan, March 2008 - click for larger image There is additional information available via Avibase.
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