If you are lucky enough to see one, Kingfishers are a fantastic species to watch. Small, irridescant, fast flying & perfectly adapted, these birds truly are the masters of their watery habitat. In August, I was lucky enough to photograph a kingfisher regularly returning to one perch for about 20 minutes. Most people will see a kingfisher as a flash of blue before disappearing around a river bend or across a lake, their flight is fast and straight and usually low to the water.
Weather they have made their home on a wide, slow moving river or on a lake or pond the kingfisher is perfectly suited to diving for its prey, typically minnows & sticklebacks.
This kingfisher, like all European Kingfishers, searched for it's prey from a perch, once spotted, the kingfisher bobbed his head; an action to gauge distance, and then dived into the water.
Once the fish had been caught, this male kingfisher returned to it's perch where it proceeded to repeatedly hit the fish against the perch before turning the fish so it was pointing head first and then swallowing it whole.
I hope to head back to the site to try and find the kingfisher again soon. Being able to watch & photograph this magnificent bird was an amazing experience.
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