Kingfisher

Gallery: AvianPosted August 3, 20171,331 views9 comments

Kingfisher-pity about the stickleback.
Kingfisher with Stickleback.
Reworked shot.. This bird found it quite difficult bashing a fish to death on a squidgy bullrush head.
All been done before I know.
Nikon D200
Sigma 100-300mm
500 ISO
Camera low contrast.
Slight crop
Try the biggie
Cheers
JohnR

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 3, 2017 at 9:10 AM

Lovely image, John. The bulrush does seem to be an unusual perch for a Kingfisher, but it's very effective in giving scale to the image and thus the bird. Amazing to get close enough to get this kind of image with 300 mm. Very well done.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on August 3, 2017 at 9:46 AM

Thanks Dennis.
There a good story to this one. I,d been in a mud bowl hide all day which my mate and I scraped out in a shallow pool.
All of a sudden this Kingfisher turned up on a bulrush about 6 feet from the left hand side of the hide. I cut a hole in the side with a penknife and managed to get the 300 through it without a tripod. The bird couldn,t kill the fish due to the bulrush being soft, and it stayed there trying for 20 minutes. To say the least I got a lot of shots.
Funniest thing was- we did,nt know there were sticklebacks in there !. You can see how the spike on the back stops the bird swallowing them/
Cheers
John

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Peter J. Morrissey on August 3, 2017 at 1:32 PM

Hi John
The Kingfisher, dinner and the bullrush head make for a very nice photograph.
Peter

Registered on July 3, 2011, 188 Posts, 969 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on August 3, 2017 at 2:46 PM

These are really fascinating birds with impressive color patterns. I like this image. Good job on the detail and composition.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on August 5, 2017 at 7:24 AM

Beautiful, John.
Very good details on bird and nice perch.

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on August 5, 2017 at 7:37 AM

Thanks all
JohnR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Shirley Freeman on August 5, 2017 at 12:48 PM

This is an excellent image, John! Love the colors of the bird, and the poor fish about to go down the hatch. What a great shot. Well worth all that you had to go through. Such great color and detail.

Registered on May 27, 2017, 77 Posts, 844 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on August 5, 2017 at 5:59 PM

Super shot with a great comp here John, excellent eye contact with both bird and fish. devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Snead on August 15, 2017 at 2:50 PM

Congratulations on the WP John. Love that the kingfisher has the whole fish in his beak!

Best
Kathy

Registered on April 6, 2017, 104 Posts, 397 Comments