Lacedo pulchella or the banded kingfisher is a medium-sized tree kingfisher measuring up to 23 cm in length. The banded kingfisher has a unique silhouette with a relatively long tail, white throat and slightly uptilted orange-red bill. This kingfisher shows sexual dimorphism where the males have bright electric blue on the crown, chestnut forehead and sides of the head with black-barred electric blue upperparts and have white underparts with pale rufous-buff wash on breast and flanks. Whereas the females have rufous-brown with black-barred upperparts and white with fine black bars on breast and flanks.

The banded kingfisher is found widely in Southeast Asia. It is quite common but generally a scarce resident in Java and Sumatra. It is not recorded in Brunei and it is recorded to be extinct in Singapore since 1950 (Jeyarajasingam & Pearson, 2012). The population is decreasing due to habitat destruction, however, it is categorised as Least concern in the IUCN Red List due to the large range of distribution. This species can be found in primary and mature secondary rainforests, both in the lowlands and at lower montane up to 1100 m. It usually frequents near the dry area. Small vertebrates and invertebrates are its main diets.