Kingfisher Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Craig Rogers Photography

Is There More Than One Kingfisher At The River Pool?

14th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

I just happened to look at the image I captured on the Bushnell NatureView tonight and noticed something…….

Take a look at these 2 images, what do you see differently?

Apart from the quality differences, there seems to be something very obvious, I don’t think they are the same Kingfisher.

The shot on the left from the Bushnell NatureView seems to clearly show a red lower beak whereas the shot on the right only has a slight colouring as I established this is a young female who’s beak is yet to turn red.

Kingfishers are very territorial so I suspect these photos are of mother and daughter. Only time will tell as I spend more time in the hide.

I’ll keep you updated.

One More Kingfisher Photo From Yesterday

11th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

Ok, one more to share from the morning spent yesterday with this gorgeous lady.

More to come soon once my neck and back has stopped aching from squeezing into the hide!

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Photos Of The Kingfisher At The River Pool

10th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

This morning, I was up at sunrise, drank a coffee, took the dog for a walk, had breakfast and then headed down to the Kingfisher Hide I built yesterday. Portuguese for Kingfisher is Guarda-rios, but translates to River Ranger/Guard.

I approached slowly and quietly and the perch was not empty, the Kingfisher was already there. I stopped, it stopped, we stared at each other for what felt like an hour but was probably more like 5 seconds before it flew away. I made sure that it had cleared the area totally before approaching the hide. I didn’t want to scare it away for good.

I squeezed into the hide and set myself up for a long wait. The long wait wasn’t needed, within about 5 minutes the Kingfisher was back but it looked a little confused, it knew something had changed and it flew to the next river pool about 25 metres away. I sat and watched it dive into the water catching small fish and eating them. At this moment, I really couldn’t care if it didn’t come to the perch, I was happy enough just sitting there watching it. However, soon enough it came back to the perch and didn’t seem bothered of my presence, although I was well hidden. It was a very still morning, not even a breeze so my next concern was the noise of the shutter, would it scare it. The D810 was in “quiet” mode which tries to limit the noise of the shutter, I fired off a shot, it didn’t disturb the bird at all.

I spent the next hour sat there watching it dive, sometimes successful, sometimes not. It did have a good feed. I waited until breakfast was over and it flew away before leaving. I was using my 300mm f/2.8 lens fitted with a 1.7 teleconverter as I still await the return of my 500mm f/4 from repair. I’m pretty happy with the quality of the shots considering, but looking forward to the return of my 500mm f/4. The only problem I see is getting into the hide with the size of the 500mm f/4. My next goal is to capture a usable shot of the Kingfisher with a fish in its mouth, I did get some, but not good enough.

At first, I thought this was a Male Kingfisher due to the lack of orange lower beak. However, on closer look, I think this is a juvenile Female as there is a little colour appearing underneath.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Kingfisher Hide At The River Pool

9th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

This morning, I put together a simple frame to create a temporary hide at the Kingfisher Perch.

Kingfisher Up Close!

8th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

So, as promised in yesterday’s post (see here), I have relocated both the Bushnell NatureView and also the temporary perch.

I was expecting a few days of nothing whilst the Kingfisher got used to a change in its environment. I was wrong.

Just 12 minutes after I left, the Bushnell recorded a very brief visit of the Kingfisher. The capture only has a few seconds before it flies off so not really long enough to create a video, but here is a still image from the capture (continue reading below the image).

2 Egyptian Mongooses, a Little Egret and a Kingfisher visit a River Pool…….It’s No Joke Either!

7th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

Sounds like the great start to a joke, but this is no joke.

Couldn’t believe my eyes when I viewed the footage from yesterday, two Egyptian Mongooses (yes, not Mongeese) sharing the pool with a Little Egret. I was waiting for a Mongoose to attack and whilst one of them takes a little interest, I think they realise that either they won’t catch it or it can do them some damage with its beak.

Then, the Kingfisher shows up, in fact, you can hear what I think is the Kingfisher’s high-pitched call from the start but isn’t brave enough to come whilst the Mongooses are there.

If you watch near the end of the clip, when the Little Egret walks out of shot, the Kingfisher returns, but doesn’t land on the perch. This backs up my thoughts from yesterday where I don’t think the Kingfisher is triggering the camera. I will be moving it later today to a different position nearer the perch. It does mean that I’ll probably miss out on the other wildlife visiting. There is one issue that really shows how important it is that we have more rain, the fish in this pool are reducing in numbers at an alarming rate. This is probably due to the Little Egret that seems to be visiting the pool very regularly to feed.

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}

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