It feeds almost exclusively on fish and frequents streams, rivers and larger bodies of water with dense shoreline vegetation.

[2] The half-collared kingfisher was described by the English ornithologist William Swainson in 1823 and given its current binomial name Alcedo semitorquata.

The specific epithet semitorquata is from the Latin semi- for "half" or "small" and torquatus for "collared".

The dark blue patches on either side of the neck form a half collar.

The sexes are very similar but the bill of the male is entirely black while the female has some red at the base of the lower mandible.