kingfisher Archives - Craig Rogers Photography

The Kingfishers & Their Friend Weasel

15th July 202115th July 2021Craig Rogers

Ok, I very much doubt a Weasel would be a Kingfisher friend but it makes a nice children’s story book title…….

I was counting on a sleepy morning today but the dogs had other ideas, waking me up before sunrise. Therefore, I took the opportunity to spend some time at the new Kingfisher perch I placed in the river a few days ago.

It still needs some work on positioning but it’s great to see once again there are many Kingfishers present. The local pair seem to be busy feeding a 2nd brood and although not intentional, I have spotted their nest in the riverbank where they are busy delivering food. There’s plenty wrong with the Kingfisher image below, but it’s a great start to my new season of Kingfisher photos!

Whilst I sat there patiently waiting a Weasel showed up running around like crazy. I fired the camera shutter which grabbed it’s attention and then fired off the shot below with him looking directly at the camera before continuing on its hunt for breakfast.

(Click to view in Lightbox)

It’s That Time Of Year Again – Common Kingfishers

10th June 202010th June 2020Craig Rogers

If you have been following me for a while you will know how lucky I am to have Kingfishers living on a stretch of the River Odelouca that runs through my land. Over the last few years, I have been lucky to bring you some beautiful photos of Common Kingfishers and I hope that the adults have successfully bred again this year.

To get everyone in the mood, here is a fresh, previously unpublished photo of a juvenile female from last year. I will soon be looking for some locations to shoot from.

(Click to view in Lightbox)

Common Kingfisher (Juvenile Female) - Guarda-rios (juvenil femea) - Alcedo atthis

4K Video Of A Young Female Kingfisher (Video)

29th February 202025th April 2020Craig Rogers

Yesterday morning whilst walking the dogs, I spotted a pair of Kingfishers already playing “Kiss Chase” up and down the river. This is a ritual that a mating pair carry out at the start of the breeding season. It’s not even March yet!

As a reminder,you can View All My Kingfishers From The 2019 Project.

Coincidentally, whilst going through some of my photo storage today, I stumbled across a short video I took during a session where I took these 2 shots.

The Stare (Common Kingfisher) : 📷 Nikon D850, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 1/800sec, f/11, ISO640
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Kingfisher Project Is Back On, Plus A Few Other Birds

25th September 201925th September 2019Craig Rogers

For those that Follow Me On Facebook will know that I have continued my Kingfisher Project due to the location of the autumn morning sun lighting a river pool. Whilst walking the dogs, we watched an adult female perched in amazing light on a tree branch, so can’t waste an opportunity like this. I positioned a perch and setup my popup hide yesterday and was at the river this morning. It didn’t quite go as planned as the Kingfisher didn’t use the perch. It seems as now the water level is so low, she prefers to perch higher up to be able to watch a larger area of water. I have now installed a high perch and will return tomorrow morning.

However, all was not lost, I was able to sit and watch this adult female diving and catching fish many times and on one occasion she came up with a Crayfish. I snapped these images. Notice the wet marks on the branch, this is where she was hitting the Crayfish to kill it before eating. I suspect this is “Princessa” that I photographed when she was a juvenile but as I can’t confirm this I am calling this girl Tufty due to her feathers on the back of her head sticking up. Not sure these are permanently like this or just because she was wet.

Kingfishers of 2019 (The End Of This Years Project) – Framed Prints Now Available!

9th September 20199th September 2019Craig Rogers

It started off quite a difficult task this year with the Kingfishers. The river level was a little lower than usual in late spring which didn’t provide the correct angles I was looking for with my perched portraits. It wasn’t until the juveniles left the nests that I was able to shoot at the correct angles. It really was a waiting game, which paid off.

The local Kingfishers bred very successfully this year and I had some amazing sessions with them. All my favourite photos follow below. Most of these photos and others are available to purchase in print in the Webshop.

Clicking each photo will open up the product in the shop. I am slowly updating the shop to include these prints framed. All Kingfisher photos are now available framed! To celebrate my the Kingfisher success, all Kingfisher prints (including framed) have been discounted until the end of September!

Please note, currently all framed prints are available for local pickup only and can be viewed (by appointment only) in my viewing gallery here at the Quinta. I can also meet and greet in the central Algarve area!

The Perfect Pose : 📷 Nikon D850, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 1/1000sec, f/10, ISO800
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New Location At The River

3rd August 20193rd August 2019Craig Rogers

Yesterday I installed yet another perch for the Kingfishers to use. The river pools are getting smaller by what seems like every minute and although it results in the Kingfishers being more concentrated on certain areas, it means I have less good angles to shoot with.

This mornings task was to photograph a Kingfisher just coming into land on the perch with outstretched wings. Everything was going to plan until I broke my number one rule of “Focus on what you are trying to get and don’t be distracted!”.

The camera was setup, pointed at the perch, I had pre-focused, AF settings and fast shutter speed all dialled in. All I had to do was wait for a Kingfisher to fly to the perch. Although there were many visits to the perch all of them approached from in front rather than behind, then one of the young females landed high in a branch of a tree behind the perch. She dived into the water and retreated to another branch directly behind the perch. I wanted to look to see if she had caught a fish and moved the camera and focused on her, she flew right at the perch and I didn’t get the camera moved back in time. Yes, I am kicking myself! This was the last time I saw her this morning as she had already caught two large Louisiana Crayfish.

I did get some portrait shots of her on the perch earlier.

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

📷 Nikon D850, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 1/800sec, f/11, ISO640
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