Elusive kingfisher

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Elusive kingfisher

October 22, 2014 by Mike Powell

A female Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) lives at a small lake not far from where I live and periodically I try to photograph, but she continues to remain elusive.

Generally I try to photograph the kingfisher at one of her normal perches in a grove of trees across a narrow portion of the lake from where I am standing. It’s tough to isolate her against the backdrop of the trees, especially at this time of the year when the leaves are still on the trees, and often I only catch sight of her when she starts to fly.

Most of the shots in this posting are my attempts to capture her in flight. I am getting better at tracking the bird in the air and keeping her in focus, but it’s not easy to do as she flies in and out of the shadows and against varying backgrounds and she is somewhat hidden in these shots.

This past weekend, I decided to try to approach the grove of trees from the other side of the lake, where there is often a group of fishermen. I was fortunate that I was alone and I was able to make it relatively close to the grove of trees. I was surprised to see that the kingfisher was on a low perch rather than high in the trees where I usually find her and I managed to squeeze off a few shots before she flew away. The first shot in this posting was from this new shooting position.

I plan to try this new approach again in the future and with a bit of luck, I may finally be able to get the kind of shot of this bird that I have been visualizing in my mind.

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Belted Kingfisher, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, female Belted Kingfisher, kingfisher, Lake Cook, Megaceryle alcyon | 5 Comments

5 Responses

on October 22, 2014 at 2:16 pm | Reply caleephotography

Such a cool bird!! Oh I hope I get to see a Belted Kingfisher one day! 😀
on October 22, 2014 at 7:29 pm | Reply Bella Remy Photography

One of the hardest birds to capture as they are so very shy. Almost time for a blind. 🙂
on October 23, 2014 at 7:09 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

The best part is, you know where she lives and are learning her habits. I’d guess that plus a little patience means you’ll continue to get some great photos of her.
on October 27, 2014 at 4:58 am | Reply Marie Keates

The only time I’ve ever seen a kingfisher was in Cyprus, Paphos harbour, and I didn’t have my camera,
- on October 27, 2014 at 6:55 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I am fortunate that I know of a couple of places where kingfishers hang out, so I have a pretty good chance of hearing one and maybe seeing one. Getting a photograph of one, though, is a whole lot more challenging.