...(Kingfishers in the US) are very small but the blue colour is very easy to spot if you look carefully....
This is not totally correct. There are 94 species of kingfishers in "the Old World". In the U.S. there are three species. Birds of North America lists them as the Belted, Green and Ringed. They have no description of the Ringed, however, only a listing. The predominate species is the Belted. It is blue mostly, has an overall length of 13", the size of a pigeon, and ranges throughout all of the U.S. and much of Canada. The Green is smaller, 8", is green and ranges in the south from Arizona east to the tropical regions.
I have mostly seen the belted and it is an impressive bird and have been startled by it flashing by many times while hiking along mountain streams.
I have also seen the Malagasy kingfisher in the rain forests of Madagascar. It is average size, ca. 8", chubby, extremely energetic, and a brilliant metallic green with a head nearly as large as its body. At least that's how I remember it after 13 years. It was too fast for me to photograph so I have no photographs of it. And the Belted is to fast for a 4x5 so I have none of it either.
However, both the Green and the Belted are represented in National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region with very good color photographs.
Peace! Sidney
