It is found in the lowlands of the American tropics from southern Mexico south through Central America to northern Argentina.

[2][3] The first formal description of the Amazon kingfisher was by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1790 under the binomial name Alcedo amazona.

The bill is black with some pale yellow at the base of the mandible and its legs and feet are dark gray.

Juvenile males have a buffy rufous breast and both sexes have buff spots on the upperwing coverts and a large yellow patch on their bill.

[8][9] It inhabits large rivers, both slow- and fast-flowing, and the wooded shores of lakes and freshwater lagoons.

Both members of a pair excavate a slightly inclined burrow in a river bank or similar feature; it is typically up to 1.6 m (5.2 ft) long and has a nest chamber at the end.

The Amazon kingfisher makes a "[l]oud, harsh, repeated 'tek' or 'klek'" and a "staccato 'chrit'" that may be extended into a rattle.