The Sacred Kingfisher is common and familiar throughout the coastal regions of mainland Australia and less common throughout Tasmania. The species is also found on islands from Australasia to Indonesia and New Zealand.They inhabit woodlands, mangroves and paperbark forests, tall open eucalypt forest and melaleuca forest.They forage mainly on the land, only occasionally capturing prey in the water, feeding on crustaceans, reptiles, insects and their larvae and, infrequently, fish.

The Forest Kingfisher is essentially a tropical and subtropical kingfisher found in coastal eastern Australia from Cape York to the Macleay River in New South Wales. They are commonly found in open sclerophyll forest with a patchy or sparse understorey favouring watercourse vegetation and the margins of swamps and billabongs. They may also be found in mangroves, cane fields, farmlands and beaches. Their diet consists of invertebrates, including beetles, bugs, spiders and grasshoppers. It will also eat insect larvae, small lizards, frogs and worms.