Crested Kingfisher

[Ajmull]

Hi all, been doing my research this evening as I spotted a bird this afternoon which looked much like a kingfisher in size but was grey and crested. After a Google I'm pretty certain I saw a crested kingfisher. Never seen anything like it before but we do get a lot of kingfishers where we are as well as a variety of rare birds as we are a stones throw from Shakespear Regional park on The Hibiscus Coast.

Anyway, didn't quite get my phone out in time to snap a photo but just thought I'd see if that was a plausible sighting?

[Michael Szabo]

There are two kingfisher species in NZ:

Sacred Kingfisher: http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/sacred-kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra: http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species ... kookaburra

Which one of these do you think it was?

[BerndHuss]

I just had another look through my Kookaburra photos and on quite a few they appear slightly crested. And Hibiscus Coast definitely fits the location where Kookaburra are more likely to be seen. And seeing an actual Crested Kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris) in NZ is very unlikely to pretty much impossible.