Chloroceryle amazona
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Amazon kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found in the lowlands of the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America to northern Argentina.
The first formal description of the Amazon kingfisher was by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1790 under the binomial name Alcedo amazona. The current genus Chloroceryle was erected by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. The species is monotypic.
The Amazon kingfisher is about 30 cm (12 in) long. Males weigh 98 to 121 g (3.5 to 4.3 oz) and females 125 to 140 g (4.4 to 4.9 oz). It has the typical kingfisher shape, with a shaggy crest and long heavy bill. The bill is black with some pale yellow at the base of the mandible and its legs and feet are dark grey. Adult males have dark bronzy green upperparts divided by a white collar. They have a white chin and throat, a rich rufous breast with dark green sides, and a white belly with dark green streaks on the side. Adult females lack the rufous breast but the green of the sides extends across the breast almost to its middle. Juvenile males have... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 3 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jardín Botánico y Zoológico de Asunción | 🇵🇾 Paraguay |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Amazon Kingfisher sighting in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 91 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 151st most-seen of the 329 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May, July, September and November–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Amazon Kingfisher in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in March, June, August and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Amazon Kingfisher sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
24th of 50
Of the 50 parks where we can rate Amazon Kingfisher sightings, Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge ranks 24th at about 10%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 70%), Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 60%) and Tortuguero National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Chloroceryle
The closest relatives of the Amazon Kingfisher that you can see in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (genus Chloroceryle, American Green Kingfishers) are Green Kingfisher (about 10%) and American Pygmy Kingfisher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Amazon Kingfisher is recorded against all the birds logged in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (91 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
