Not much activity on the new Kingfisher perch, however, there was a good capture of 2 Ducklings fighting over a Crayfish, of course, Ducklings fighting is always going to be cute fighting rather than vicious.
As you will see, Mother Duck is close to hand. She did have five Ducklings, maybe the other 3 are just out of shot, or maybe they have been taken by a Fox or Mongoose.
As I explained in my last post, the Kingfisher Perch has been changed to a simple piece of Bamboo which blends in with the Bamboo growing on the river bank.
It seems that I need to modify the Kingfisher perch. I have a feeling that it’s too thick for the Kingfisher to perch as it seems they prefer the top of the pole or right side instead.
This is in interesting clip of the male because he seems to be shaking off water as it he’s dived nearby. It’s only a very short clip as the camera had already been triggered by an Iberian ChiffChaff which you can hear singing at the beginning of the clip.
Of course, what this video does prove (along with This Post) is that there is a Male and Female resident, which will probably mean they are a breeding pair!
Also, there seems to be other activity around the perch too as there was some Otter Spraint (poo) on the floor nearby. I would have taken a photo, but my disgusting dog decided to eat it before I had the chance! Therefore, today I will be changing the perch and also moving the camera to get a wider shot and switch it to work at night too.
I was at the river at just past 6am this morning, hidden well in the reeds. It was light, but the sun was still below the horizon. Almost immediately, a Kingfisher landed on a bamboo less than 1 metre away from me, chirping its high-pitched tweet to another Kingfisher out of sight. The Kingfisher flew and another landed in the same spot, stayed for a few seconds before flying down-stream, following the first.
I waited for an hour before the sun was lighting the river but yet again after almost 4 hours, no such luck getting a shot in flight. On one occasion, a Kingfisher came flying towards me and I was tracking it ok but it didn’t quite fly into the area I had predicted so no close up shot. I did get this distance shot that I’ve cropped in. As you can see, although a terrible picture, it shows the Kingfisher with a Crayfish in its mouth. No wonder, they are not interested in my perch with its tiny fish to catch!
Although another disappointing morning, I am learning a little about their patterns which should help get the shot I’m looking for. I will continue!
It may not be what I need, but at least one has landed on the perch. As you can see, this is a female due to the red lower beak, males are black. Could this be Princessa? Quite possible, I really hope so.
Interestingly enough, this was captured at 11:23am which is around a similar time to when my Nature Walk came near this area. It could be that she landed on the perch to hide from us.
This morning I sat at the river and watched a Kingfisher (or maybe Kingfishers) flying back and forth along the river. I’m almost certain that one of them was carrying a fish in its beak and I noticed that they/it was going back to the same location. This location is on the riverbank on our land, but very difficult to get a good view unless I swim!
I believe that there is a nest site here as they constantly flew back and forth, you could also sense they didn’t like my presence so I took a terrible picture and left them to it. There is a spot on the opposite side of the river that I can watch from a distance, however, it involves climbing a fence of someone else’s property. I will find the owner of the field and ask their permission first.
Here is the terrible picture, it was quick reactions, but either the Kingfisher is flying too fast for even 1/2500sec, or possible, the camera has missed the focus. I think it’s a combination of both. If I was sat here waiting, I would of pre-focused on part of the river and waited for the Kingfisher to fly into the focal plane.
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