Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Many faces of the neighborhood kingfisher.








This little bird of prey is so tiny. Not as tiny as a blue-gray gnatcatcher but much smaller than the hawk or osprey that hangs out in our channel. It's a she. The female kingfisher has the rust color around the chest. It would be nice to see a male in the neighborhood but so far I've only seen a female. She tends to hang out on our dock or our neighbor's dock. Occasionally, on the weekends I can hear her chattering and I peak out the window to see her sitting there. She must be a migratory bird since I only see her in the winter. Kingfishers are very skittish birds and don't hang around when people are present. Any of the pictures I have taken in our channel have been through a window. The second I walk outside she is gone. Other birds will hang around for a while watching me take their picture. All of the above were taken on Thanksgiving weekend. The picture below was taken last winter. I wonder if it's the same bird. The rust on the bottom is not all the way across but she might have grown that in this past summer.




4 comments:

  1. I love that first one! He is so cute and interesting.

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  2. Beautiful bird.. Interesting, funny expressions.
    Costas

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  3. Dina, these are amazing shots, esp. considering you took them through the window! The only pictures I've been able to take are on the telephone wires! There have been a few times, while out kayaking, that I've almost been able to snap a shot 'in the wild', but as you say, they don't sit still for very long when being approached! I'm envious.

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  4. THERE you are! Great post!

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