![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/belted-kingfisher-3033b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-3033b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nA subtle variation in head-shaking style between species that most bird lovers have probably noticed but I suspect few have given any thought to.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This female Belted Kingfisher had just gobbled down a fish (so quickly I have no photos of it) and cleaned her bill on the branch she’s perched on. As they often do in this situation her next move was to vigorously shake her head to rid her bill of any fish debris that might still be clinging to it.<\/p>\n When most smaller birds with smaller, lighter bills (songbirds for example) shake their heads to get rid of clinging debris and\/or water the shaking maneuver is extremely fast because their bills are short and don’t weigh much so the circular arc the tips of their bills move through is very short – only a few degrees.<\/p>\n But it’s different with many larger birds, especially those with long and massive (heavy) bills like kingfishers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n When they shake their heads the inertia of their heavy and quickly-moving bills makes it much more difficult for them to change direction quickly. So each cycle of the shake continues for many more degrees of the shaking circle.<\/p>\n When this kingfisher shook her head the shaking circle continued almost 180\u00b0 in each direction which is why her head is upside down here. At first glance it may look like she’s simply looking above and behind her but it’s just that I had enough shutter speed to freeze her motion in this position so there’s no motion blur. Besides, she’s closed her nictitating membrane to protect her eye during the violent maneuver.<\/p>\n I know, sometimes I focus on trivia and I certainly have here. But when it comes to birds (and to bird photography), trivia matters.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – Holy hell, I really slept in this morning! Usually I’m up sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. so I have plenty of time to write my blog text but this morning I slept in until 5. I never sleep that late! So this is a rush job and it may show. I’ll try to clean it up after I publish the post…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A subtle variation in head-shaking style between species that most bird lovers have probably noticed but I suspect few have given any thought to.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/belted-kingfisher-3036b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-3036b-ron-dudley\\"")
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