Having had the pleasure of cataloging thousands of spottings and photographs of kingfishers, and I have also done videography of them catching fish underwater that has been aired for broad public consumption. Of all my photos of the kingfishers, the image attached to this newsletter is my all-time favorite. I call this photo, "The Circle Of Life." It calls to mind the symbol of Zen's purity, which stems from our natural world. I photographed the circle of life while I was leading a cross country private birding Japan photo tour. The kingfisher's family Alcedinidae is in the order of Coraciiformes, which included bee-eaters, rollers, ground rollers, and todies. There are three families of the kingfishers: the tree kingfisher (Halcyoninae), the river kingfishers (Alcedinidae), and the water kingfishers (Cerylinae). Most kingfishers have bright plumage, with green and blue being the most common colors. The species that fish have long, sharp bills to catch their fish prey, their bill serving as a harpoon for skewering their prey. And those who eat on land have a shorter and more broad bill to shovel up more potential prey with each calculated lunge into the rich earth.
The kingfishers are extraordinarily territorial and vigorously defend their territories. To stay in peak predatory shape, a kingfisher must eat 60% of its body weight in food every day, so it must have precise control over its domain. Outside mating season, kingfishers are solitary and prefer to live in heavy cover, making them even more challenging to capture in photos. If, however, a challenger for a fellow kingfisher’s territory arrives, both birds will signal their disdain for the perceived interloper by ‘displaying,’ sending a clear message that the territory will be fought for. If there is no clearly dominant ‘display,’ then fights may occur with the victor awarded control of the territory. Beyond territorial skirmishes, kingfishers are generally reclusive and do not like to be seen, especially by humans; they are not a big bird and don't fly fast, but because of their size and behavior, they are seldom seen. When they fish, and you are lucky enough to catch them on a branch, they dive at speeds up to 40km/h and a little faster from time to time. For the photographer, you are going to need a shutter speed of at least 1/3200th of a second, but I recommend a shutter speed of 1/5000th of a second and above. And forget autofocus; it’s useless. You need to focus on where you believe the bird is going to strike the water; usually, it's just above the branch they are perched on. And have a full memory card and your shutter set to continuous because it’s very possible you could fill an entire card in pursuit of that once in a lifetime photo. They certainly are a beautiful, graceful bird in all their behaviors. Once you get the hang of spotting them and photographing them, and your images are gallery hanging quality, you are a dedicated birding photographer, and I believe you can photograph any bird anyplace anytime.