The crested kingfisher is a very large, stocky black and white bird, usually between 38 and 43 cm (15 and 17 in) tall, and weighs between 230 and 280 g (8 and 10 oz).

Females have bright pink-cinnamon underwing coverts washed with pale rufous, while males lack this and instead have rufus-orange feathers on the breastband.

The crested kingfisher is part of the Alcedinidae family in the order Coraciformes, which also includes the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies.

The first formal description of the crested kingfisher was by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1834 under the binomial name Alcedo lugubris.

[11] Crested kingfishers are also known to migrate altitudinally in winter to avoid frozen rivers when living higher up in the Himalayas and in Japan.

[12] Crested Kingfisher's nest sites are usually in a forest, by streams or ravines, but can be as far as 1.5km from water, and the burrows are made in a vertical sandy bank at least 2m high.

[12] This foraging behavior is also apparent in the shape of the bill, which Forshaw (1983) described as laterally compressed and pointed, which is more suited for striking at and grasping prey.

A study on kingfishers in the Chikuma River in central Japan found that the main fish caught by crested kingfishers was Japanese Dace (Tribolodon hakonensis) and Pale Chub (Zacco platypus) and mainly selected Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis) to bring to the nest.

In Japan, the crested kingfisher is considered a threatened species in 32 of the 47 prefectures because its population size and distribution have decreased due to habitat loss.

[12] Furthermore, a 1996 report from the Wildlife Conservation Society stated that the species was regionally at risk in the province of Bolikhamsai in Laos.