We were lucky enough to spend Christmas in Ethiopia where the birds were wonderful, plentiful and obliging.
These are the nearest that I can get to GeoffH's wonderful kingfisher diary pictures.
I have to say that the birds here were very easy to approach, seemed used to human presence and lived happily alongside the local fishermen. These pictures were taken around Lake Awassa.
This is a pied kingfisher - about the size of a collared dove
The pied kingfisher hovers like a kestrel
This is a woodland kingfisher - slightly larger than the pied
Here we have the malachite kingfisher which relates to ours in terms of size but not in sociability - the bird posed happily a couple of yards away
We only saw one grey headed kingfisher and this further off than the others
Back to the pied kingfisher - I could have spent all day trying for the perfect picture but our timetable dictated otherwise
Finally, another woodland kingfisher
A small memento of a memorable trip.
Colin