During the breeding season they call loudly in the mornings from prominent perches including the tops of buildings in urban areas or on wires.

The white-throated kingfisher is one of the many birds that were first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[2][3] Linnaeus cited Eleazar Albin's Natural History of Birds published in 1738 that included a description and a plate of the "Smirna Kingfisher".

[4] Albin's specimen was preserved in alcohol and had been collected by the botanist William Sherard who served as the British Consul at Smyrna between 1703 and 1716.

[13] Local names include Baluchistan: aspi chidok; Sindhi: dalel; Hindi: kilkila, kourilla; Himachal Pradesh: neela machhrala; Punjabi: wadda machhera; Bengali: sandabuk machhranga; Assamese: māsorokā, মাছৰোকা; Cachar: dao natu gophu; Gujarati: kalkaliyo, safedchati kalkaliyo; Marathi: khundya; Tamil: vichuli; Telugu: lakmuka, buchegadu; Malayalam: ponman; Kannada: Minchulli(ಮಿಂಚುಳ್ಳಿ),rajamatsi; Sinhalese: pilihuduwa.

[15] This species forms a superspecies with Halcyon cyanoventris and most major works recognize four geographic races.

Race perpulchra (not always recognized) is found in northeastern India and is smaller than fusca with paler underparts.

[17] The white-throated kingfisher is a common species in a variety of habitats, mostly open country in the plains (but has been seen at 7500 ft in the Himalayas[18]) with trees, wires or other perches.

The nest building begins with both birds flying into a suitable mud wall until an indentation is made where they can find a perch hold.

This species mainly hunts large crustaceans,[25] insects, earthworms,[26] rodents, lizards,[27][28][29] snakes, fish and frogs.

[30][31] Predation of small birds such as the Indian white-eye, chick of a red-wattled lapwing, sparrows and munias have been reported.

[37] An individual found dead with its beak embedded into the wood of a tree has been suggested as an accident during rapid pursuit of prey, possibly an Indian white-eye.