Persistence finally paid off. And I do mean I was stubborn with this bird!
I’ve been trying to get high quality close-up images of this male Belted Kingfisher for many weeks now but the darn bird has been almost as stubborn as I have. He shows up like clockwork almost every day at about the same time at a spot near the Jordan River and he may be punctual but whenever he’d land close to my pickup he’d immediately take off as soon as he saw me (very, very slowly) raise my lens. He definitely didn’t want to be famous.
But I kept at it for weeks. I’d deliberately park in the same spot every day when there was good light to try to get him acclimated to me and my pickup. Two days ago I could tell that he was finally beginning to accept my presence because several times he perched close to me in the tree but he always chose a perch that had branches between us. And then yesterday afternoon he chose two (count’em, two!) exposed nearby perches and I was able to get many photos of him I like because he was close enough for excellent detail, he was in good light and there were no obscuring or distracting branches.
It was almost like he chose those perches to please me, perhaps out of pity…
1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
He spent eleven minutes on this branch right in front of me. In a larger version of the image the detail is excellent, the entire bird and the entire perch are sharp, there’s no distracting branches and he even has his tail on our side of the branch so we can see all of it. And the perch isn’t bright white like most of the others in this tree.
I’ve never photographed a kingfisher this close without distracting elements in the image. As any bird photographer knows this species is notoriously skittish and uncooperative.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
But you know me, I did find something to complain about. He was so focused on his fishing that he gave me very few varying poses. While he was on this perch this open beak and tilted head was about as much variety as I got. It also would have been nice to have a few puffy white clouds in the background but I won’t whine about that.
When he finally did take off after a fish he was successful…
1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
but he landed far away to gobble it down. For some reason this branch low over the water is his absolute favorite dining table.
Dang it was fun to watch a kingfisher up close through my lens. Believe me it’s been a long time coming but I paid a big price for the privilege. I have a chronic bad back and I had to twist in my seat at a crazy and uncomfortable angle for so long to get these and many other shots that I’ve seriously aggravated my symptoms so the next few days could be interesting.
I could easily be convinced that bird photographers are certifiably crazy.
Ron
Beautiful shots! Sorry about your back. Hot bath with Epsom salts might help!
I like the first shot. The bird shows a lot of personality. I really enjoyed your commentary.
Thank you, Jack.
Your photos are terrific, but I love your commentary even more!
Thank you on both counts, LS.
Ron, so glad you got the shots you’ve been pursuing for a long time. The Kingfisher has quite a stylish hairdo!!
Back pain is awful….unfortunately I have experience with it. Hope you feel better…PT and exercises can be painful, but hopefully they will help.
Thanks for the great series, Ron.
Love the 2nd picture. How sweet is that!
Thanks, Jean.
Woo Hoo. And happy dances. My father told me that I was more stubborn than stains (I wonder where I got it from), but sometimes it has HUMUNGOUS rewards. For you, and for us.
I am so sorry about the back issues, and hope they settle. Quickly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Yup, stubbornness can have its perks, EC. Thank you.
Oh and that “certifiably crazy” thing? Yeah, so? You say it like it’s a bad thing! Crazy is not a bad place to be…LOL!
And you won’t be lonely. Indeed I think you will find you recognise a LOT of us.
Most definitely (or should I say most certifiably?)! 😉
And we have cookies, chocolate milk and an assortment of adult beverages 😉
Nope, never said it was bad, Laura – at least not in this context! In fact it may be a requirement of you’re going to be very successful as a bird photographer. 🙂
Nice shots Ron but sorry about the back …. do some stretches! So now you need to get a female Belted Kingfisher. I managed to get shots of both, lucky me. Most of the time I find this species love to sit in the brambles making the ugliest backdrop but did get some sitting on power lines. I kept the ones with the terrible backdrop just because I am a newbie and was told how hard it is to photograph a Belted Kingfisher.
Shirley, I do the stretches and exercises every day (six of them I got from the physical therapist). I do think they help a little. Maybe over the long term they’ll help more.
I got quite a few nice shots of a female last year but in many of them the background is far from clean or attractive.
You are an inspiration to me as a birder and photographer. I truly enjoy your photographs and stories for their uniqueness and quality. Thanks.
Your comment meant a lot to me, Lisa. Thank you.
Certifiable, maybe, but for those of us on the receiving end of your photographs, the effort was worth it (I don’t even have to do anything crazy like that to get my back to be unhappy). I hope your back recovers quickly. This guy is as gorgeous as the female you were photographing last year. And it looks like he’s taken extra special care with his “hair-do”, just for you…
Susan, My back was far from happy before I spent time with this bird. The session just made things worse.
And yes, that crest looks great, doesn’t it!
Excellent shots, poses, great light, all around beautiful.
I particularly like the second shot!
Carvers say it is very difficult to carve a Kingfishers top-knot and get it to look realistic.
Thanks for sharing!
Dick, from the very little I know about woodcarving I would think it’s the combination of getting it to look realistic and keeping the narrow spiky feathers up there from breaking off every time you look at them, much less touch them or put the knife to them.
Woot!!! Congratulations on finally getting your target bird as you had envisioned it. The pics are awesome 🙂
Thanks very much, Zaphir.
I have often wondered what kind of contortions you go through to get some of these images…the front seat of a pick up can’t be that comfortable a potographer’s perch. This is a wonderful series of images of a very elusive bird! In the second frame it almost looks as if he’s smiling for the camera. The detail is so crisp in all of these images!
The contortions I often go through ain’t pretty, Patty (Pretty Patty, I like that…). Nor are they comfortable or productive sometimes. Thank you.
I can hear him saying, “I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. Dudley.” 🙂 Fabulous shots! Hope you’re spending some quality time with the heating pad (and maybe a little flexeril) today.
All I can say is that it took him a hell of a long time to accommodate my close-ups, Marty. I wanted to give up more than once. Or 10 times.
Again, OH WOW! What a spectacular series! Belted Kingfishers are just wonderful!!
Persistence does often pay off and it certainly did this time! At the same time, I think they do take pity on us silly humans sometimes. You’ve got to grant them that we are funny-looking and often scary (from their perspective). Over time, you’ve proven not to be dangerous so you got a bye! And yes, they do recognize cars and humans, so you worked for that trust! So sorry it hurt your back, but there’s always that yin and yang thing going on in life. Hope it’s transitory and gone this morning–or by afternoon at the latest! While pain is fun and all, yeah, NO!
I hope he remembers to give me that bye in the future, Laura.
I’m ready for more yang and less yin…
This aging process ain’t pretty. I’m in payback mode for the last several days, but at least my back doesn’t hurt. Pooped out at 11 and just woke at 2:30 because the Jack Russell TERRORIST was hungry. She does not have a snooze alarm!
I think in that 2nd photo he’s showing plenty of personality!! Great photos – it’s nice to get a up-close look at a kingfisher.
I wish he’d brought the fish back to that perch, Joanne. Then we’d see some REAL personality!
Yoga for the back may help you too. Of course the suggestion is entirely from my concern for your well being vs suffering deprivation of your glorious images every AM. More Kingfisher please!
The way you said that made me smile, Gary. So I smiled through the pain and that helped!
Great patience paid off with some winners here Ron! I know the feeling with Kingfishers- been there done that. Great job!
Kingfishers have a reputation known far and wide, Bob. Thanks.
Those are awesome Ron.
Beautiful Kingfisher images Ron. Sharp, crisp, and love the exposure on the bird and the sky (nice to see some blue). Are these images cropped at all? I love them as they are, just curious since you have an effective 1120 mm focal length (relative to full frame) with sharp detail on him — very nice! I also like the image with the water in the background a lot. It will be curious to see now if he is used to you on following days. Patience always pays off, eventually.
Thanks, Ed. Yes, both of the first two images are cropped to exactly 68% of the original image (13.6 megapixels of the original 20).
That’s about the size I generally like to have the bird in the original frame (before cropping) for three reasons:
1. If the bird is extremely large in the frame at these focal lengths I very often don’t have enough depth of field to get the entire bird sharp, especially at the high shutter speeds (and resulting shallow depth of field) I like to use.
2. Slight to moderate cropping often gives me some wiggle room to improve my composition. And I don’t find that it hurts image quality.
3. As you know, behaviors and action shots are my forte. When something happens (takeoff, wingstretch etc etc) I usually need more room in the frame to accommodate it. I HATE CLIPPED IMAGES!
Awesome series Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
YES! Congrats on finally getting a cooperative one – or as cooperative as they are likely to get and nailing it! 🙂 I LOVE the 2nd photo with his head tilted and mouth slightly ajar……….
Judy, he was only cooperative after I wore him down! 🙂
Congrats on the beautiful shots, Ron! I can almost hear the rattle!
He was rattling a LOT on different perches, Diane. But for some reason he was mostly quiet on this one Which is one of the reasons I had so much difficulty getting different poses from him.
Ron—your persistence and dedication are exactly the reminder I personally needed this very morning….they CAN pay off , and I needed to see an example in “real” life–congratulations on your success !
“CAN” is the key word there, Kris. There’s no guarantee but in some situations persistence is our only hope. And when it does pay off it feels so very good!
I love the kingfisher. These are beautiful pictures.
I’m glad you like them, Cheryl. Thanks.
About all is can say is WOW!!!!!!!! And, unfortunately for me I share your previous frustration. My wife and I are in Bishop California slowly headed up 395 toward Reno. Day before yesterday we were out checking out ponds near the Owens River. We watched a beautiful Belted Kingfisher working well within range of my 600mm. Guess what, I didn’t have it. Yesterday……. found him again, 10,000 miles away and no way to get to him and he would not move. As far as my relationship with Kingfishers, that’s my story. Again and again and again. I am painfully envious. Great shots Ron!, and I hope your back is ok. But if not, its still probably worth it.
Yup, that sounds like a typical kingfisher story, Frank! I know your frustrations very, very well. I guess that’s one of the reasons I was so very excited to finally get quality shots like this. There may not be a lot of personality showing in these photos but I got the image quality I was after and that’s been the most difficult part for me for years.
Thanks very much and I wish you good luck in your future kingfisher pursuits!
He is beautiful! Thanks for sacrificing your body for these wonderful photos!
Well, I hope the sacrifice isn’t permanent, Carol! Thank you.
Congratulations, Ron! These images are beautiful!
Thanks very much, Sharon.
2nd photo showing that “look” or “smile” is the best, as if he’s saying “Here’s your photo op!”
I agree, it’s a more interesting pose, Elmer. But picky old me wishes the tip of his beak wasn’t so close to the branch.