White Throated Kingfisher

 

Perched 20 mts away from the pond near our kitchen.

How many predatory birds trumpet their presence? 

How many of them are brightly colored and not camouflaged in dull brown or grey color? 

Not many I know of. That is precisely the reason I think this one is called what it is- KINGFISHER! 

Kingfisher equally inquisitive of me taking the picture.

Gifted with bright blue wings and back, an ochre body, sharp long orange beak , this medium sized bird  can never go unnoticed in any of its visits to my backyard. For it annunciates its arrival with a loud – Kil…kil…kil..kil. The call is so loud and clear, that it is easy to know which part of the garden it has flown to. No wonder it is called ‘kilkila’ in hindi. An onomatopoeic name.

On our mango tree next to the lily pond.

Unlike most of the birds, this one is not so shy. Even in presence of humans, they prefer to continue with their business. Hence, I have been fortunate to observe them hunt on plenty of occasions.

At Mitthi, it usually prefers to perch on a sparsely leafed branches of a Mango, Sonmohar or Gulmohar trees. While it looks as if it is just lounging around, looking in all directions, it has its eye on the water body and movement around it. It must have really sharp vision, for it does not take a fraction of a second for it to take a plunge directly from the branch into the water, hold my little molly or a frog or a dragonfly in its beak, come back to the same branch and  feast on it. At times I have seen it fly away with the booty too. It is believed that if the fish in the beak is facing the kingfisher it is meant for its own consumption, else it is food for its brood. I found that so amazing, I watched videos to validate the same but none could help in reaching a conclusion.

White throated kingfishers  are solitary birds and are extremely territorial , which means our visitor is the same guy each time. 😊 They pair up only during the breeding season and share the responsibility of nest building, incubation and rearing activity. Their nests are tunnels near banks of big water bodies. With deep tunnels, am sure it won’t be easy to know if it belongs to kingfisher or any other bird. While trying to watch behavior traits of kingfishers, I came across this wonderful video of Robert Fuller, who has filmed the entire nesting and brood rearing of kingfishers. Absolutely fascinating. A must watch for all bird lovers. 

Listen to the kingfisher call, right outside my kitchen door.