Kingfisher Diving Supplement

How do Kingfishers Dive for Fish?

This Kingfisher diving supplement adds to my post from yesterday A Few Days Out. I’ve examined my images from the Dumfries and Galloway shoot very carefully and I have realized something else important that I wish to share.

To recap:

• The Kingfisher eyes up the fish from the side of the tank

Eyeing up the Prey..

• The Kingfisher points his beak at the fish he wants several times
• Then there is an extra long stretch, and you see the bird go into the water

New Insights..

Having looked at my images very carefully, here is what happens next:

• The Kingfisher gives the extra long neck stretch then
• Flies upwards and backwards along the line of his beak keeping the fish in sight
• Then after gaining sufficient height, dives down and forwards again into the water to catch the fish

Flight Path for a Dive..

• This allows you to aim your camera along the flight-path much more accurately because you don’t have to overlap both sides of the tank just in case.

Some Action..

This is a little better than the Gif I published yesterday as it does show part of the backward flight prior to the dive. The shot 3 seconds before this sequence (not shown) has the Kingfisher looking at the fish, but before committing to dive. Fascinating stuff!!

Kingfisher Diving Sequence..

Until next time,

R.