A large coastal kingfisher with a gleaming white head, a thin black line behind the eye, and a blue-green back. Juvenile duller, with buff on crown and underside. Found singly or in pairs in mangroves, on beaches, and along rocky shorelines, where it often perches on exposed rocks or in trees bordering coast. Clean white crown and narrow (not wide) black strip behind eye distinguish it from all forms of the smaller Collared Kingfisher. Vocal, giving harsh calls: a “choo-chew” descending on the second note and a rapid, agitated “kip-kip-kip-kip-kip.”