Many birding photographers have found that two different species are particularly difficult to photograph. Belted Kingfishers and American Kestrels seem to sense when one wants to take their picture and promptly leave the area.
All a photographer needs to do when seeing either species in a promising location or striking a unique pose is slow down his or her vehicle, never mind coming to a stop, and the bird is gone. And on foot a photographer doesn’t have a chance to get a photo as the birds will be long gone out of the area well before the photographer even sees it. However, with the introduction of newer high resolution cameras and super-fast longer lenses distant birds now have become easier to photograph from a car which serves well as a photography blind. (Just be sure not to open your car door, a common mistake that many have made.)
Recently I have been fortunate to photograph a number of Belted Kingfishers admittedly at great distances and with sometimes severely cropped photos but nevertheless resulting in relatively satisfying results. For example this female, with the colorful and patriotic red, white and blue bands, was photographed on a distant bush at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this past December 22nd as an unexpected Christmas present (top of page). Similarly, this male, with only the single blue breast band, was photographed last winter also at MINWR on a much more distant bush and an even more severely cropped photo (photo 2).
While I have often preferred not to photograph birds on man-made objects (long time readers of this column will remember that I have previously referred to this practice as the 11th commandment on Moses’s Mount Sinai tablet: “Thou shalt not photograph birds on man-made objects!”), sometimes birds just seem to prefer such perches.
For example, Belted Kingfishers love wooden posts (photo 3); and at the T. M. Goodwin Wildlife Management Area in Fellsmere, Florida, one of our favorite birding sites even though it is only open for birding on Thursdays, a male Kingfisher sits on this one particular pole virtually every time we visit (photo 4). At the Viera Wetlands Kingfishers love to sit on top of the dead palm trees, occasionally even sharing them with other species at the same time, such as this nesting European Starling (photo 5).
As one might expect, Kingfishers primary diet consists of fish. Sometimes the fish they catch seem almost too large for them to even carry, much less swallow (photo 6). While fish are certainly their main food source, that doesn’t mean they can’t also enjoy their own form of a lobster dinner when they are fortunate enough to capture a delectable cray fish (photo 7).
A very common method of fishing is to hover for some time over a likely spot and wait for a fish to come into striking range (photo 8). An even more common method they utilize is to sit on a bush or small branch overlooking clear water and dive when a fish comes into range, usually within 6 or 7 inches of the surface (photo 9). Studies have shown that they are more successful with the branch technique (50 %) than with the hovering method (20%).
Difficult as Belted Kingfishers are to photograph, when finally successfully catching one in the camera it is immensely rewarding. As I write this I think about a full day of birding just yesterday at Apopka Wildlife Drive where we saw a zillion birds and took another zillion photos, and saw several distant Belted Kingfishers. However, I took not one single photo of a Kingfisher. Of course, the Drive is extremely popular (lots of alligators) and only open to vehicles on a limited basis, so the Kingfishers stay well away from the road when all that traffic is present.
Yes, our most successful Belted Kingfisher photo opportunities occur when we are pretty much alone without much other traffic around to spook the birds. Even then, as with so much of birding, great sightings are often serendipitous and therefore ever more satisfying. Almost like being out on a first date and realizing this could really be the one. Well maybe that’s a stretch, but you get the idea. Serendipity! It makes the world go round.
For more information about Belted Kingfishers, see: www.charismaticplanet.com/belted-kingfisher
Study of Belted Kingfisher fishing techniques and success rates of each type: https://core.ac.uk/display/48449247.
