kingfisher in mid air, kingfishers

The pied kingfisher was initially believed to be descended from an ancestral American green kingfisher which crossed the Atlantic Ocean about 1 million years ago (Fry & Fry, 2000). However, more recently, Moyle (2006) considered it more likely that the Pied Kingfisher and the American green kingfishers are derived from an Old World species, with the Pied Kingfisher or its ancestor losing the metallic coloration afterwards.