Stock Photo - 02/26/1999 __ A belted kingfisher perches on a twig in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a boundary with the Kennedy Space Center. The pigeon_sized, blue_gray male is identified by the blue_gray breast band, females show a chestnut belly band. The belted kingfisher ranges throughout the United States and Canada, wintering south to Panama and the West Indies. They dive into the water for fish and may also take crabs, crayfish, salamanders, lizards, mice and insects. The 92,000_acre refuge is a habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles. The marshes and open water of the refuge also provide wintering areas for 23 species of migratory waterfowl, as well as a year_round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans and other species of marsh and shore birds