Belted Kingfisher - Pitt Meadows, BC

For a bird that is relatively common, these guys are hard to photograph, at least at close range. The Belted Kingfisher is the only Kingfisher that makes its summer home in the northern United States and much of Canada. There are 114 species of Kingfisher around the world and most of them residing in Africa and Australasia. The Kookaburra of Australia is one of the more well know cousins. This particular bird is a male and can be told from the female by the lack of a rufous band below the blue band seen here. As long as there is open water, the Kingfisher does quite well.