King For The Day: Belted Kingfisher Male & Female

Birders. We are an interesting group. We often keep our eyes on the periphery, in hopes of discovering a bird, when others are focused on the task in front of them. We sometimes schedule our errands around the hope of seeing a particular bird along our planned routes.

The fog and haze that has blanketed Utah County for what seems like a month or more gave way to the sun Monday. I had some errands to run during the afternoon and realized I'd be passing by a location in Pleasant Grove where I had observed a male Belted Kingfisher working a little fishing hole the Friday before--when the light was not so great. I grabbed my camera and put it in the car so I'd be prepared if my little friend happened to be fishing in the same spot again.  The lighting from the afternoon sun was great when I arrived at the location, but I did not see the bird along the short length of the fishing hole. I decided to turn around and leave the area to finish my errands. As I began my two point turn I caught a glimpse of my new-found friend as he flew up to a fence post. I pulled into the parking lot near the bird hoping that all the crunching of the snow beneath my tires would not spook him from his perch. Kingfishers are notoriously skittish and keep their distance from humans.  My "king for the day" was calm and remained on his man-made throne as I captured a few images, including the one below. You can't see it in the image below, but I positioned myself so his background became a snow-covered mountain--a much better background than the freeway just a short distance to his rear. I noticed a rather large, oblong hole at the base of his bill and wondered how that might have happened.

Male Belted Kingfisher  in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper) 

I did capture a couple images of presumably the same male Belted Kingfisher when I first discovered the little fishing hole last Friday. I didn't like the lighting that day, but thought I'd include one of those images to compare the left side of the bill. Friday's bird was either a different male or the same male before somehow creating the hole on the left side of his bill. Here is a picture from last Friday.

Male Belted Kingfisher in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

The image below is from Monday again and was taken as "the king" was perched on a concrete bridge that allowed him to look down into a small stream. Kingfishers often perch in conspicuous spots where they watch for prey to appear in the water below. They dive head first into the water to snatch their prey with their bill.

Male Belted Kingfisher in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Just before I left I captured an image that allowed a little bit of a view of the tail with its spotted pattern. I will go back in the near future to see if I can get some flight and fishing images to show the impressive tail and wing patterns.

Finally, in order to add just a little extra color to today's post, I'll share one of my old images of a female Belted Kingfisher. Unlike most bird species where the male typically has more colorful or ornate patterns, it is actually the female Belted Kingfisher that has more color. The male has a blue and white pattern with a blue belt across the chest. The female adds a nice rufous color to its sides and lower chest. This image was captured last winter along a stream near the American Fork Boat Harbor in American Fork, Utah.

Female Belted Kingfisher in American Fork, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)