The Story
I photographed this female Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Females have a bluish-gray band across the upper breast, which males lack. In courtship the male offers the female a fish before mating. A clutch is usually three to six eggs, incubated for about 22 days in a burrow. It is a large, noisy kingfisher found from southern Texas to Tierra del Fuego. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/1500 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800. La Macarena National Park traces its origins to the La Macarena Biological Reserve of 1948 and today covers 629,280 hectares of humid forest, flooded forest, scrub and Amazonian savanna.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) belongs to the family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List