Both belted kingfishers I saw yesterday appeared to be adult females. And by their behavior, calling to each other before joining up for some aerobatic frolics, I would say they were definitely related! I love the inversion one of the birds is pulling in the first photo. In the second photo, there's a big splash from a frightened duck diving in alarm as one of the ladies buzzes too near it. No idea if she meant to do that!
The birds swooping up from the water's surface, showing their white bellies marked with rust at the 'belt' and underwing, their dapper blue neckties, and tiny balled-up legs. They have cunning little faces with large eyes. The left bird has her wings fully extended and seems to be pulling away, while the rightmost bird is lower to the water and has her wings partly pulled in. A duck, a northern shoveler, has surfaced to the left of the flying birds and the splash its alarm made has made a pretty series of disturbances riffling the water under them.
The two birds flying low over a rather still lake, its glassy surface broken by a big splash to the left of the birds. The birds are head-on with the white dots over their eyes prominent. The rightmost bird is pulling up slightly so we can see her chest and belly bands and fanned tail: she also has her big sharp beak open to rattle!
Two birds flying against a backdrop of yellow deciduous trees. Both have their wings, slate blue with a white stripe, raised into dihedral 'V' shapes, but fluid and dynamic rather than in a soaring posture. The rightmost bird is almost entirely upside-down, but her head cranked around to point toward her sister. The left bird is tipped sideways, both upper wing surfaces visible to the camera, banking. There's no prey or threat in sight or any reason for them to be doing this wild flight except their own joy.