What Was That?

A few days back, I was standing next to the pond keeping watch for the return of the killer dogs.

I heard a large splash.  Turning my head to look, I saw an extremely large round wave forming larger and larger concentric circles across the surface of the water.

My initial thought, ‘WOW! That must have been some big fish jumping.’

Minutes later, I heard the same sound and saw a similar wave; maybe a snapping turtle????

I relinquished my steadfast view on the pasture and began to watch the pond.  Then, I saw it.  It was a large and beautiful Belted Kingfisher diving into the water.  I had no idea that the Kingfisher actually dove straight into the water to retrieve a fish, but that is the technique I witnessed.

Now, I know!

P.S.  On further investigation, I was able to verify this Belted Kingfisher as a female.  The male of this species does not have the rusty band below the blue gray band.