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Little Kingfishers are the smallest kingfishers in Australia. Their head and back are, except for small white patches on the frons and on the sides of the neck, all rich dark-blue. Race "ramsayi" is a lighter shade of blue than race "halli". The front, from the throat down, except some blue on the sides of the chest, is all-white. Race "ramsayi" can have a complete blue chest band. The irises are black, the massive, straight bill is dark-grey and the legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Little Kingfishers tend to be a lighter shade of blue than adults.

Twitcher's tip

Compared with Azure Kingfishers, Little Kingfishers have a white front, rather than orange-rufous.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Little Kingfisher is available HERE .

The range of Little Kingfishers extends from northern Australia to West Papua (Indonesia), New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

In Australia three races of Little Kingfisher exist. Nominate race "pusilla" populates the tip of Cape York peninsula, down to about Cape Melville, QLD, and to the North the chain of islands across the Torres Strait and beyond. Race "halli" is endemic, with a range stretching from Cape Melville, QLD, southward along the QLD East coast, down to about Fraser Island, QLD. Race "ramsayi", which is also endemic, populates the entire Top End of the NT and possibly a narrow coastal strip around the South end of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and part of the West coast of Cape York peninsula.

Little Kingfishers can be found in open forest, woodland, swamps and mangroves, and also along billabongs.

Race "ramsayi"

Race "halli"