I’ve been watching this female Belted Kingfisher from afar for several weeks now but in typical kingfisher fashion she has been unapproachable. But yesterday morning she partially atoned for her bashful ways and performed some interesting behavior for my camera.
All six of these photos are large crops (each is exactly 35% of the original image). No noise reduction applied.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
As usual she was perched far away, this time on an old nesting platform in the middle of a pond at Farmington Bay WMA. At first she was facing to my left but then she turned around and faced the other way…
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
and began to retch. Whenever this behavior begins (in a variety of species) it looks at first like yawning but when it continues I’m immediately on the lookout for pellet-casting.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It soon became obvious that she was trying to cast a pellet and here you can see it beginning to emerge from her mouth.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It escaped her beak..
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
and dropped to the snow-covered floor of the nest box.
As is typical of most fish-eating birds, kingfishers lack a crop and their flexible gizzard is poorly musculatured and incapable of vigorous grinding. Though kingfisher nestlings digest the bones and scales of fish they consume they lose that ability when they fledge so as adults they throw pellets composed of entire fish skeletons and scales. It is assumed that this digestive change is explained by a change in gastric secretions from acid in nestlings to alkaline in adults.
Their composition explains why the pellet of this species is almost white (composed of fish bones and scales as it is) as compared to the much darker pellets made up largely of arthropod exoskeletons or mammal fur of many other pellet-casting species.
Pellets are often cast very quickly (as this one was) and I like to get multiple photos during the process but in the past shooting with my older Canon 7D usually left me frustrated because the burst rate of 8 frames/sec was too slow to catch the pellet often enough as it fell. But shooting this sequence with my new Canon 7D Mark 2 with a burst rate of 10 frames/sec was a significantly helpful 25% improvement. I was able to get 9 images of the bird from when the pellet first appeared in the mouth until it dropped out of sight on the floor of the nest box. If I’d been using my 7D I’d likely have missed two of those shots and knowing my luck they’d have been the most desirable ones of the bunch.
If you’re photo-geeky enough to be interested in seeing/hearing the speed I experience with the Mark 2 when I fire off a burst, check out this link to a clip of the Mark 2 in action. Several shutter modes are demonstrated – the actual burst begins at about 30 seconds into the clip. To my knowledge this frame rate is faster than that of any other cropped sensor DSLR.
Another thing I loved about the Mark 2 in this kingfisher encounter was its improved buffer capacity. The buffer of my 7D fills up after 25 RAW images in a burst but the Mark 2’s buffer has a significantly improved capacity of 31 RAW images. I get a lot of “false starts” from the bird when shooting pellet-casting because of multiple retching sessions before the pellet is actually cast and it’s very frustrating to have just fired off a burst during a false alarm and have my buffer already full when the real action begins.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark 2, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
After the kingfisher passed the pellet she turned around on the perch and took off to my left. As she did so I fired off another burst but in only one of those shots did I get a wing position that I really like. Once again I’d have had fewer images to choose from and would have been less likely to get this wing position if I’d been shooting with the significantly slower 7D.
I’m surprised by how concave her belly is in this shot. I don’t have a lot of experience with kingfishers so perhaps this is a normal profile for them in flight. I just don’t know…
So far, for the reasons mentioned and many others, I’m hugely impressed by the Mark 2 for photographing birds. I still haven’t been able to test the new camera much on birds in flight so I continue to fine-tune my autofocus settings for those types of shots. I also have not had a chance yet to properly evaluate noise levels at high ISO’s.
And hopefully, the next time I get an opportunity with a kingfisher casting a pellet the bird will be much, much closer than this one was…
Ron
PS – Once again I apologize for the late post. More technical issues.
Just a blog technical question. I subscribe to both Mia and your blogs. I usually read them every morning on my ipad mini as I watch the local news on TV. When I open Mia’s blog it fits very nice on my screen. When I open your blog it has very small font types and I have to resize the screen and then I am forced to scroll back and forth. Do you happen to know the difference between the two blog settings between yours and Mia’s? Of course, no problems seeing it on my 20 inch PC monitor!
Hi Mark, The issue you describe is related to the different blog themes that Mia and I use. Every theme has strengths and weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages, including Mia’s. This seems to be a problem with my blog for folks on iPads only (as far as I know). The only solution I’m aware of is to switch over to Google Chrome as your browser so you can use the mobile version of my blog.
You may have noticed a couple of days ago that I increased the font size of my blog when on your PC. This was done in an effort to resolve that problem on iPads. It didn’t work…
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Hiss and spit on the technical issues. I hope they are a pellet you can finally cast for good.
And thank you for yet another informative, stunning post.
Hiss and spit is right, Elephant’s Child. I truly do wish we could cast that “pellet”, and soon.
Oh my, now what to do! I’ve got a 5DM3 and can’t shot as fast as your 7DM2, and the 5 cost more than the 7! Well, Christmas is coming, we’ll see what happens!
Great lesson, great shots much appreciate you taking the time to teach.
It’s always a quandary, isn’t it, Dick? New technologies, what do we want, what can we afford and what would be the wisest move? Hope you’re buddies with Santa!
LOL – Oh, I’m buddies, BUT, not at that extreme! I’ll have to give this some careful consideration.
Hi Ron,
Great images and a wonderful lesson, as always. Re her stomach profile: As I have gotten older, I often find that my stomach becomes more concave when I know someone is taking my picture… 🙂
Thanks!
Cheers,
Dick
Haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, Dick (especially today with all the “technical issues” I mentioned). Thanks, I needed that. A lot…
Boy am I jealous. I’ve been trying to get just ONE decent Kingfisher shot for longer than I care to say even though I cross paths with them regularly along the river I routinely walk. These are–as seems always the case on your site–amazing. The intimacy you capture in all these behavior sequences is inspired. Got any more good ones of the Kingfisher? Even a few of your mediocre ones would trump anything I’ve been able to get!
As for the Canon 7D…many are skeptical of my story but I found mine lying on the ground in a parking lot a couple of summers ago. After doing everything I could think of to track down the rightful owner I decided it was mine. Its ancient generic 50mm lens had clearly taken a serious blow from a fall. I assume from the roof or bumper of the car the original owner had forgotten it on. I bought a couple of less expensive lenses for it thinking it would be back up to my then 2 year-old Nikon D300. Except for macro shots–of insects mainly and for which I have a high-end 105mm lens for the Nikon–I use that banged up freebie 7D almost exclusively now. Great features and somehow more intuitive than the Nikon. You may be Canon’s best sales rep. This post has me thinking. Should I just trade off the Nik, its teleconverter + multiple lenses along with that “vintage” well-worn, “road kill” 7D for a new Mark 2? But then…how do I pay for that cool tele lens you favor?? Can you recommend which parking lots I should scout next?!
I enjoyed your comment, Jim – all of it (including the fact that you tried hard to find the rightful owner of the camera).
No, I don’t have any more “good” kingfisher images, just a few marginal ones.
That camera find of yours was truly serendipitous. I loved my 7D for five years, so much so that I bought a second one and will continue to use both with other lenses. But I believe the Mark 2 is truly a game-changer for bird/nature/sports photographers. It’s been a while coming but at this point I think it was well-worth the wait. If Canon had asked me personally what I’d want (which they didn’t) in a new camera, this would be it, all rolled into a cropped frame sensor that I prefer. Full frame cameras simply don’t tempt me for my style of shooting. Heck, they even put a lock on that darned mode dial that I was forever bumping into an unwanted position.
All that said, I’m a pessimist at heart and I haven’t really given the Mark 2 a good run for its money (my money…) yet, so we’ll see how I feel about it down the road. But so far I’m loving it to pieces!
Amazing shots Ron! My, that’s an awfully large pellet for such a small bird! Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte
I thought it was pretty large too, Charlotte. I’m glad I don’t have to do that…
Great photos. Clearly the new camera is proving its worth. I have spent a little time around these Kingfishers and never had a clue as to how huge their mouths are. I’m sorry you’ve been having technical issues, but as usual, your posts are well worth waiting for.
Thanks for the commiseration regarding the technical issues, Susan. They’re a real pain in the posterior…
Great shots. I’ve always enjoyed this bird in Louisiana.
I’d enjoy them more, Arwen – if they were just a little less shy. I’m so envious of others who can get so close to them, as long as the images aren’t baited. I know of one guy who puts goldfish in a kiddies pool and baits them in that way. Not my cup of tea…
I was fortunate. My mother lived right on a bayou so you could sit on our fishing porch (hidden by cypress trees) and they would get close if you were quiet. I never had the camera eye though.
Bravo! Great photo series, Ron, thanks for all the info to go along with it. I love the second shot–“open wide!”–and although I’m not a photography (equipment) geek, I also enjoyed your little video.
I hesitated to include that clip, Chris but in the end I figured it could be ignored or watched – depending on interest and maybe curiosity. Thank you.
Great photos Ron, I especially like the one of the Belted Kingfisher in flight, seeing the brown color on the belly is great. I tried out my new 7D2 at the Bosque del Apache NWR this past week. It is a “game changer” in my opinion for BIF photography. Way better focusing than my 5D3 or 7D1. I love it.
Take care,
Ed
At this point I feel the same way, Ed. Glad to hear you like yours too.
Perhaps my problem with the 7D 2 was operator error…. Wow is about all I can say…..
Gena, I’ve had my share of “operator error” with this camera early on – par for the course for me with any new camera. So far, sticking with it and slugging it out has cleared up any issues. Hope that continues…
You have left me with more desire than ever for the 7D Mark II. My kingfisher photos (with the 7D on two different occasions) were also at long range, but neither as exciting as the sequence you captured.
I was sure glad I had the Mark 2 for this encounter. At this point, knowing what I do so far, I think it as a great purchase for me and my style of shooting.
Late, maybe, but worth it, yes!!! Fascinating!!!
Thank you, Lois.
Love the kingfishers! Also like hearing about the &D Mark II.
I’m glad you found both interesting, Carolyn.
Yuk! Remind me again to stop eating live fish, insects and voles!!!
Continue your regular diet, Patty. Lots of protein and roughage there!