A Study In...Kingfisher

On my walk down to the pond, I disturbed the heron, yet again. This has become a daily habit.  Fortunately for me, watching that heron fly is so amazing.

 

No sooner did the heron take flight and land in a nearby tree that my resident female Belted Kingfisher arrived.  At least, I heard her.  I did not immediately see her.

 

But, as I walked around to the far side of the pond, she flew to the bench of the pond house dock where she was content to sit for minutes.  Then, she flew to what I now call the ‘kingfisher tree’, that small walnut tree growing nearest the pond and to where I was now standing.

 

This was the closest that kingfisher and I have ever been.  I was ecstatic inside and tying to remain calm and motionless on my outside.

 

From the tree, the kingfisher flew to the overhead electric line which runs near the pond bank opposite the kingfisher tree bank.  She perched on that line for quite some time during which I heard some grunting coming from the woods located uphill from the pond.  I looked up just in time to see a couple of white plumes, the tails of the white-tailed deer, move quickly through the trees.  Next I heard the shrill screams of, what I thought was, a hawk.  I was not able to see the bird.  Maybe it was an eagle as our son thought he saw two eagles fly over the farm the previous day. 

 

 

 

 

 

Suddenly, the kingfisher flew down and dove into the water returning to the pond house deck.  She was not alone. She had a fish in her beak.  WOW!  More excitement for me as I had never seen her catch a fish in all our previous encounters. 

 

 

 

 

 

After devouring the blue gill, the kingfisher dove into the water and returned to the bench.  Then, she dove again and again returned to the bench.  She repeated this series several more times within the course of about one minute.  On her last return, she spent several minutes preening, grooming her feathers. 

 

 

 

In all, I had been watching that kingfisher for over 30 minutes observing activity which was probably part of her usual routine. 

 

What a full morning.  I felt my day, my week, even my month was well satisfied with these many small wonders from the wild, natural sphere.

 

And, I am looking forward, to many more marvels. 

 

I just need to keep my eyes and ears alert.

 

Note: This event took place a few weeks ago.  The past few days have been so cold - not getting above ‘feels like 20 degrees’ according to Intellicast that I have pretty much stayed indoors.  My canine companions are not very happy with me as they like to take a daily walk with me.