Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

The belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) is always associated with water so water must be nearby in order for you to manage for this species. If a bird were to be chosed to emphasize riparian volumes, this would be a contender. Artificial water structures will attract the belted kingfisher. The management suggestions listed below are not a complete list. The bird has fairly specific habitat and diet requirements. Management to increase population numbers can be achieved through a variety of management alternatives. All will not work in every situation, but these suggestions will guide you in increasing the belted kingfisher population on your property:

1. If water is nearby but kingfishers are not visiting your property, you might attract them with a small fish pond. This pond should be no more than 10 inches (25 cm) deep and should contain fish no longer than 4 inches (10 cm).
2. On your property protect stream pools and pond shallows of less than 10 inches (25 cm) in depth from unnecessary human disturbances.
3. Small minnows can be stocked in pools of suitable depth for kingfishers to prey upon. Use only native species.
4. When constructing an artificial pond of over 1 acre in size include one area with a vertical bank about 1 yard (1 meter) high and about 5.5 yards (5 meters) long in which kingfishers may dig nest burrows.
5. The average home territory of the kingfisher during the breeding season (spring) is about 1300 acres (520 hectares) so you must have more than this amount of land in order to have multiple pairs of kingfishers nesting on your property.
6. Place wires beside or across water areas of the suitable depth. These are roosts from which kingfishers may feed.
7. Protect the forested shorelines along your waterways from timber cutting and removal.
8. Protect all trees with branches overhanging suitable water areas from which kingfishers may feed.
9. Protect all vertical banks (preferably clay banks) on the water about 1 yard (1 meter) high and about 5 yards (5 meters) long from human disturbance.
10. Build brush piles near the water.
11. Create embankments along water course; (a) bulldoze along hillside and create cliff embankments (3 ft. in height or greater) and (b) leave sufficient buffer between disturbance and water course to reduce possible sedementation.
12. Dig nesting burrows in embankments; (a) dig burrow 3 to 12 feet into embankment and (b) burrow at least 4 inches in diameter.
13. Tolerate absolutely no free roaming cats in the area. They are the major predators of kingfishers.
14. Hunt and trap minks, opossums, raccoons, skunks, and weasels during the legal seasons because they prey on the fish the kingfishers eat and on the kingfishers themselves. Maintain water quality for fish.
15. Learn the call of the belted kingfisher, which is described as a non-musical rattle, so that you can identify the presence of the kingfisher even when you cannot see them. Discourage killing of kingfishers near fish hatcheries; (a) educate public and (b) protect them through law enforcement.
16. Limit the use of any insecticide around the kingfisher's habitat because insects are a secondary source of food.
17. Keep a record of population changes and make adjustments to improve cost effectiveness.
18. Show others your work and the responses of the population.

A contribution of Jacob Bowman (1992)and Joseph Cecchini (1991), Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0321

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.