Kingfisher in BC during the winter

Male belted kingfisher photographed at Colony Farm in Coquitlam yeaterday.

One of my favourite birds is the kingfisher.  They are, however, hard to get a good photo of as they are somewhat skittish about being approached and will flee readily.  I have been visiting the Lower Mainland from Kelowna where you don't find these birds at this time of year.  I was excited when I heard this one's clacking call and soon after found it perching nicely on a stump.

In terms of quality and clarity, I think this is the best photo I have ever taken of one.  There are many reasons for this, although it would have been nice if I had captured it with a fish.  I took a photo of one several years ago with a fish, but it wasn't nearly as good in terms of sharpness.  You can see it below.

Female belted kingfisher with fish photographed July 20, 2020.

I took both shots with a Nikon D500 and a 500 mm Nikon PF prime lens.  With the top image being photographed at a higher ISO (800 vs 200), one may think that the bottom one would be better.  The main difference was that I was physically closer to the bird in the first image and did not need to do so much cropping.  My ability to get close was probably associated with the fact that it was somewhat acclimated to people whereas the bottom one was photographed from a kayak in an area with less traffic.

Regardless of the outcome, it was a pleasure seeing and photographing one of my favourite birds.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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