Common Kingfisher

Alcedo atthis

Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Abundance: common
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Martín pescador común

Photograph: Frank Sengpiel, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 16 cm
Weight: 23 g

Presence in the Strait

Common resident of rivers and reservoirs.

Identification

Unmistakable. Bluish-green crown and wings, bright blue back and rump. White throat and neck patch. Ear coverts and underparts are orange-chestnut; very short reddish legs; long, straight, black bill and short tail. Juvenile birds are duller and greener. Base of lower mandible in female, orange. Flies low and straight, with fast wing beats. Call a high pitched: «teet».

Movements

Sedentary with post-breeding movements with wintering birds from the North. Postnuptial migration is more conspicuous with peaks in 2nd hf. August; prenuptial migration in 2nd hf. March and April, but inconspicuous.

Ring recoveries

Spain (2) and Belgium (1).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

26 %

Peak in September. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 25 February 1966
Latest record: 16 February 2025

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: EN · Endangered · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Annex I of the Birds Directive

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

1990–1999

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

3 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Spain2
Belgium1

See the journey on the map

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Alcedinidae
GBIF taxon key: 2475532

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Frank Sengpiel, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Common Kingfisher

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery