It is found along the eastern coastline of Sub-Saharan Africa, living in woodland, along rivers, and in estuaries and mangrove.

The head is dark grey-brown, with black lores and a narrow white line above the eye, and the cheeks and sides of the neck are brown-grey.

The rest of the plumage is similar to the woodland kingfisher, having black and blue covert and flight feathers.

The juvenile bird is duller, has coarser vermiculations and a yellowish-buff wash on the breast, and has a brown beak.

When not breeding, it lives in estuaries and mangrove, and also wooded shores, thornveld, forest, cultivated land, parks and gardens.

The song is a raucous, accelerating series of tchi notes, and the breeding display includes spreading the wings.