The blue-eared kingfisher was described by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield in 1821 and given its current binomial name Alcedo meninting.

[7][8] The range of this species stretches from India in the west, eastwards across Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and further into Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

The usual habitat is pools or streams in dense evergreen forest and sometimes mangroves, situated under 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) of altitude.

They usually perch on branches overhanging densely shaded streams before diving below to capture prey that includes crustaceans, dragonfly larvae and fish.

The nest is a metre long tunnel in the bank of a forest stream where about five to seven white near spherical eggs are laid.