Belted Kingfisher In Flight

Several Belted Kingfishers have been wintering in the Farmington area and as of late they’ve been slightly more cooperative than is typical of the species. It’s my guess that the reason for that is because much of the open (unfrozen) water available for fishing has been close to roads and they’ve been forced to become more tolerant of traffic and human activity.

 

belted kingfisher 6790 ron dudley

1/3200, f/8, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 @ 400mm + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

I found this adult male (no red band across the lower breast) two days ago on a favorite perch. These birds tend to have explosive takeoffs that are difficult to anticipate. Notice that he’s crouched down and seemingly at rest but when he took off he didn’t even stand erect first to give me a hint of imminent take-off. In the very next shot…

 

 

belted kingfisher 6791b ron dudley

1/3200, f/8, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 @ 400mm + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

he’s already near the frame edge. If I’d been shooting with my preferred 500mm I’d likely have missed the bird completely or at least have clipped or cut off some body parts. In the only previous shots I have of a kingfisher in flight the bird is far away so I was happy to get one where it’s significantly closer. I’d have had faster shutter speed and better detail with the longer lens but improved detail of only half a bird just doesn’t cut it for me…

Ron

Note to photographers: Some may wonder why I’d choose f/8 for this shot which limited my shutter speed and made the background grasses more distinct. The Canon 100-400 lens I’m using while my 500mm is in the shop is limited to f/8 at 400mm on the Canon 7D Mark II with the 1.4 tc attached. It will go to f/6.3 with the lens at shorter focal lengths but in this situation I needed all the reach I could get with that lens.

I heard back from Canon yesterday and I now have a reasonable expectation of getting the 500 back next week. I just hope they’re able to find and fix the problem. 

 

28 Comments

  1. Sensational shots Ron!
    Charlotte

  2. Super take-off and in-flight shots! These birds are great – I especially love to watch them hover just before they dive headlong into the water!

  3. Humming Bird Lover

    Hi! great job! He is really dive bombing something! I enjoy watching them, when I am fishing! Keep up the good photo’s! Have a great day!

  4. They are such beautiful birds and in the lovely light your photo is so pretty. the colors are just right. I am curious. 3200 seems like more than enough speed to freeze the action. why would you want a faster speed when this looks fine?

    • Wendy, I wouldn’t necessarily want more SS here because I don’t mind a little motion blur in the wingtips. What I said was that my SS was limited by my forced aperture, not that I wanted more. But sometimes I do want the entire bird sharp and in this case it would have required more SS for the wing tips. The wings of kingfishers move very fast…

  5. Love that take off shot! Like many others, the kingfisher is one of my nemesis birds, it’s always on the wrong side of the pond! My wife and I always comment about how their call sounds like they are laughing and taunting us!

  6. One of my favourite local birds we watch and listen to often. Their calls are so distinctive. Just love them!

    Thanks for the great shots- nice that your ‘handicap’ lack of favourite lens is actually an asset at times!

  7. Fingers crossed that Canon do find the problem. Intermittent issues are soooo difficult.
    Love that take-off dive.

  8. Wonderful captures Ron! They have been the most difficult specie for me to photograph as I find them to be shy and cautious of humans. However, when they are around you can’t miss their rhythmic chirping……it is quite delightful to hear!

  9. Ron, love your work, even with this 100-400mm zoom ;~). A question, do you always use a 1.4 TC on your lenses? I’ve seen it more times than not and I’ve also seen that Mia McPherson always has the same size TC on her Nikon D810 (that’s what I shoot).

    Is the 1.4 sharper than other options, like 1.7 or even 2.0?

    Thank you for providing such wonder images of the wildlife around you, even braving the cold of winter, LOL.

    I had to move to Tucson because I don’t do well in the cold ;~)
    Alan Kearney

  10. Excellent capture Ron and the lighting is terrific !

  11. Beautiful shots. I enjoy Kingfishers, and when I see a pose like the first one I’m reminded that I’ve always thought that boxing promoter Don King adopted his hairdo from Kingfishers… Seeing a Kingfisher always makes me smile, and this guy is no exception.

  12. Great shots! I actually like the background a lot in both shots – it gives a restless, vibrant energy… and sort of echoes its headdress ‘thatchiness’ and its explosive takeoff.

  13. Fantastic shots Ron! I have been trying to get shots of this species for a very long time and as you said that is tough! I have to crop the devil out of my shots! I really like these, especially the take-off, man you really captured it.

    • Thanks, Dick. You obviously appreciate the typical difficulty of photographing the species. Usually all I get is an earful of their reverberating mechanical rattle-call as they fly off and scold me. And that’s when I can find one in the first place…

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