It’s autumn now and my thoughts (and my camera) are starting to focus more on birds than insects. This past weekend, I returned to a location where I had previous seen a female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). The kingfisher would perch on the limbs of some trees overlooking a small trout-stocked pond called Lake Cook, which is really more like a small pond, and periodically make a foray across the surface of the water and grab a fish.
I realized this time that I had a problem—there are so many leaves still on the trees that I couldn’t spot the kingfisher when I heard its very distinctive, rattling call. I could get a general idea of its location, but couldn’t see the kingfisher until it was already in flight, which mean I had to react really quickly to acquire and track it, hoping that I would be able to focus on it.
As it turns out, hope is not really an effective photographic technique and not surprisingly I ended up with a lot of blurry, improperly exposed images, in part because the kingfisher was flying in an out of the shadows. I was pleased, though, that I was able to capture a few decent images of the kingfisher in flight. I was shooting from across the pond from where the kingfisher was perched, so the shots are not close-ups of the bird, but are more like environmental action shots. Maybe I need a longer lens!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Love watching and listening to kingfishers.
I find their call to be a bit grating on the ear, but at least I know when one of them is around. I really like the way that they look and I too find them fascinating to observe.
aww, you are such a stalker! (much like myself, shh) :))
I’m so jealous!!! I’ve been wanting to see a kingfisher for ages, but so far never did! We don’t have the belted kingfisher over here, so it’s really nice to see your pictures. 😀
If you’re taking away hope, one of my favourite techniques is gone! Definitely a solid reason to get a longer lens.
Love the photos…I have never heard there call, that would be interesting,
Thanks, Charlie. Here’s a link to a page on which there are various calls to which you can listen. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/belted_kingfisher/sounds
Good shots, Mike. Those guys are awesome, but always spook easy. I have learned sometimes they have favorite perches at each end of their patch of pond/stream, so I’ll stake out one and wait for them to show up. That’s the bird that first got me blogging in 2011 ( http://joeschelling.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/snapshot/ ) when a female paused right on the bridge next to me for about 1/2 second.
Thanks, Joe. I know where one of the perches is located, but it’s pretty inaccessible in terms of getting an unobstructed shot from closer (which is why I have to shoot across the water). I may explore a bit more and see what I can find.
You have to start somewhere and those shots don’t look too bad to me. I don’t work seriously at shooting birds in flight but I have given it a try a few times and have found that it’s not as easy as it might seem.
I really like these, Mike. It’s so difficult to catch a bird in flight!