David
Element
Wildlife
Photography
and Digital
Video Images
_____________________________ Birds 35 - Kingfishers 1
COMMON KINGFISHER Alcedo
atthis
- Common Kingfishers
are particularly shy birds at the best of times and all
that the observer usually sees is a brilliant metallic
blue blur as the bird whizzes past at high speed.
Opportunities to photograph them are rare other than at
certain bird reserves at which artificial nesting banks
have been provided. However on this occasion the
photographer was in the process of taking pictures of a Jay
Garrulus glandarius in
a tree overhanging a river when he heard the distinctive
call of a Kingfisher approaching. Luckily this female
bird settled on a branch in clear view and several
pictures were taken before the chance was missed. She
then flew up to a higher branch and fortunately no
further focussing adjustment was required as this single
in flight shot was grabbed with a manual 400mm lens. The
odds of this bird staying in focus, being well enough lit
and having the wings up all at the same time were remote,
although the digital camera was already pre-set at quite
a high ISO setting to cope with low winter sunshine and
the depth of field and fast shutter speed settings were
therefore ideal for this photo. The picture has been
cropped as the subject's image was too near to the top of
the frame. The orange lower mandible is characteristic of
female Common Kingfishers and this feature is black in
male birds.
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