The Knockout
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Very nice mate ,is it a young bird??. We found another little potential spot yesterday maybe luck will be on our side soon,I do love this little gem and he was there(wohoo) ,although we spent most time just watching trying to figure habits etc rather than pic taking.
Roger during a breif bit of downtime while doing some reading about kingfishers in an effort to enchance my chances of getting a shot or two, I was shocked by the mortality rate of the young,it's seemed really high many starve or get waterlogged in desparation because of hunger. Basic cause hunting too frequently while they hone their hunting skills. Your post made me think of them !! I know it's hard out there in the wild and nature is how it is.All the creatures have devised stratergies over millenia to adapt there is always some that just don't make it I completely except and understand all this . But it just seemed such a crying shame, as this tiny bird is so special to so many of us here in blighty.To have kids drown or starve not long after fledging seems such a waste...maybe I'm just being a sad old softy again,but it really tugged at the old heart strings this one .so much work by the parents and then.....
Nice shot buddy I guess many will be bothered by the reed,but not me,I really like the wings half up actually adds some dynamics to the shot
take care
Stu
Roger during a breif bit of downtime while doing some reading about kingfishers in an effort to enchance my chances of getting a shot or two, I was shocked by the mortality rate of the young,it's seemed really high many starve or get waterlogged in desparation because of hunger. Basic cause hunting too frequently while they hone their hunting skills. Your post made me think of them !! I know it's hard out there in the wild and nature is how it is.All the creatures have devised stratergies over millenia to adapt there is always some that just don't make it I completely except and understand all this . But it just seemed such a crying shame, as this tiny bird is so special to so many of us here in blighty.To have kids drown or starve not long after fledging seems such a waste...maybe I'm just being a sad old softy again,but it really tugged at the old heart strings this one .so much work by the parents and then.....
Nice shot buddy I guess many will be bothered by the reed,but not me,I really like the wings half up actually adds some dynamics to the shot
take care
Stu
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Thanks for stopping by
The beak is all black Stu so I think an adult plus whilst watching another flew in and there was a short chase and this one was the one that remained, so I'm guessing the other was a youngster and this one is at least older.
I didn't see more than a flypast from this one on my last visit but I did see a Sparrowhawk on the fence-post so he maybe giving the area a wide berth.
Three years ago the nest at the Kingfisher Hide at Slimbridge was submerged and all were lost it wasn't until last year they returned and bred but the nest was abandoned for some reason this year
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It's being able to put the time in Roger ahh god mate it is so frustrating. Our little guy was up and down yesterday,we had staked out another pond for hours,but some fishermen whom seem to know/remember us and are always REALLY kind and helpful us gave us a tip off. The pond was in a valley surrounded by tall trees (utterly beautiful location) and we basically missed the light,but maybe we might get a chance there,we'll see For now i'll use the beautiful shots like yours posted here as an inspiration to keep trying. shame the new place is a bit far away.,But we saw and watched him for a good while got some pointers of potential perches etc.. Yeah I remember you saying about the slimbrige birds buddy,terribly sad,but they have come back so maybe next year things will pan out
Always hope mate !!
take care
Stu
Always hope mate !!
take care
Stu
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Hi Stu, a good book on Kingfisher and there behaviour is by David Boag ,he a stopped his work on them but still had time with me in giving me some help and advice.
I have the book but its signed and i want to keep it.
The parents are as much to blame as they only feed for for a few days then chase them off....
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Den thanks for this,yes I read about how little time the parents feed and them chasing the kids off,but I'm not aware of David's book. I'll look into that mate .Den I won't go much further on Roger's thread,but thank you again, we'll have another crack tomorrow hopefully sooner or later things will work out. I'm not terribly familiar with them so don't expect this to be easy,but it's definitely worth trying for ,we have some possible flightlines, (i'm unsure if flightlines apply but that is what it looked like),and perches this time, so at least a start to build from
take care
Stu
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Thanks for commenting Stan, the bird had two better options to perch from (at least for me) but chose this one and the background I could do nothing about unfortunately, having positioned myself to see all of the possible perches.
Whilst I would agree with you about the negative aspect of a bird looking out of the frame normally, in this instance I see it as looking at the fish whilst thrashing it against the perch, so it's not really taking it outside of the frame in my thinking.
It isn't the best of shots for all sorts of reasons but I do think it shows an interesting behavioural aspect of this particular bird species.
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I enjoyed this image, Roger.
I love looking at your images as they're (almost) never birds on stick shots but habitat and behavioural shots.
Genuinely interesting, thanks for sharing
Thanks Wez, so glad you enjoyed it ... I hope it's not the last I see of this little bird this year, 1st time I've been wishing for a Sparrowhawk to go away!