![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/belted-kingfisher-4136-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-4136-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday in the mountains I had some luck with a male Belted Kingfisher.<\/p>\n
In these particular photos the luck I refer to involved getting close enough for a pretty nice diving shot of such an elusive species but it certainly didn’t include getting a clean background. There’s clutter galore here.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, 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 I’d already parked my pickup near a stream in an effort to photograph other birds when the male kingfisher flew in with the intention of doing a little fishing. Even though I had an almost perfectly clear view of him he was perched on a branch that was surrounded by oodles of other branches and twigs so the setting is incredibly busy. My best chance for a photo I liked better was to catch him in a diving takeoff as he dove on a fish below and in front of him.<\/p>\n But with kingfishers those kinds of shots are unusually difficult. Small fish usually only stay at the water’s surface very briefly so kingfishers have developed incredibly quick diving takeoffs in order to get to the fish in time.<\/p>\n For me in this situation “air shots” are the rule rather than the exception. Photos of the perch with nary a bird or even a feather in the frame are my usual result. If I’m lucky I only clip or cut off part of the bird. But this time I somehow (don’t ask me how) anticipated his dive and began firing a quick burst just before he launched.<\/p>\n This photo is file #4136 in the burst (just the file number, not the number of photos in the burst – it was a short burst). When it was taken I’m sure he’d already locked onto the fish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, 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 And this one, taken 1\/10 second later, is file #4137. Dang they’re quick.<\/p>\n I really like his diving posture, I have excellent light on the bird and a catch light in his eye and though the clutter is still there at least the kingfisher is in front of it all. He could be slightly sharper, his tail in particular, but in my view he’s sharp enough, especially for a diving kingfisher.<\/p>\n I got other diving and perched shots I like of this guy that I’ll probably post sometime fairly soon but despite the clutter I decided to use this one as my introductory photo of him on Feathered Photography.<\/p>\n Diving kingfisher shots have always been high on my ‘holy grail’ short list. Holy grail may seem like an exaggeration but for me it really isn’t, at least not much.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Diving kingfisher shots have always been high on my ‘holy grail’ short list.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/belted-kingfisher-4137b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-4137b-ron-dudley\\"")
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