Collared Kingfisher

Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) is a medium-sized kingfisher with turquoise-blue upperparts, white underparts and a broad white collar contrasting with a dark eye mask. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It occupies mangroves, coasts, rivers and wooded open habitats, taking crabs, insects, fish and small vertebrates from a perch and nesting in holes or earthen banks. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).