This kingfisher ranges across South Pacific islands. Records extend from coastal scrub to inland forest and villages, and its island subspecies differ in plumage.
It has blue-green upperparts and whitish underparts. The survey notes plumage variation among subspecies and used their allopatric island distributions to identify subspecies.
In the Vanuatu survey it occurred from coastal scrub to interior forest, including villages, on the islands surveyed. On Éfaté, one bird was seen leaving a nest cavity in a rotting log.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.