A Kingfisher first

[Raffman]

Just before Chrismas I was driving home after taking the dogs out. Looking into the stream that runs adjacent to the road as I always do I could see up ahead the unmistakable colourings of a kingfisher. I had my camera with me and although I realised that as soon as I would stop and get out the bird would go I thought I'd still have to give it a go. Well as expected the kingfisher left his/her perch....but only moved on a few yards, I quickly made sure that my camera was set and started to fire away and slowly pushing my luck by creeping closer and closer. Each time I got within the birds comfort zone it would just move on a little and then wait for me to catch up, this was all new to me as the only sightings I've had before are the ones where that electric blue darts out of nowhere and and makes for a speedy escape. Eventually I had to give up as my car was about 100 yards away in the middle of the road...oops.

Out of about twenty shots only a couple were keepers but I'm so happy. I can remember as a child my parents having a thin paperback bird book and on the front cover was a kingfisher, this is my earliest memory of being facinated by birds and I have always wanted to capture a photo of the kingfisher myself.....I hope to be able to capture a closer and better composed shot now but I shant hold my breath.




note: I hope I posted this okay and within forum rules..let me know if not.

Thank you
Raff

[Mandy]

Great photo!! I hadnt seen one close up until last Sept when I was lucky enough to see on hanging around the hide where I was and it stayed around for over an hour, I was buzzing for days, they are such stunning birds to see a close hand.

Mandy

[matt_xyz]

well done Raff, that's a nice shot. You did very well, I've never managed to get so close to one.

We do prefer shots to be uploaded to either the moderated Gallery or the unmoderated forum images Gallery. They can then be included in threads, rather than using externally hosted images.

If you wish to upload this shot to the moderated Birds Gallery please ensure that it is at least 800 pixels in its longest dimension (height in this case).

Matt

[nightshade]

A very striking bird,not as common here as they once were well spotted Raff

[Amber]

Great shot. Two years we've been watching our residents, and still no keepers!

[Ollie]

A nice shot, you did very well to get close enough. Usually it's the flash of blue as they go past unless you are fortunate to be able to observe from a hide. Well done
Roger

[Raffman]

Thank you for the replys all, its great to share a story and a pic.

Matt - would you like me to put this image in the 'unidentified' Gallery and edit the post?
For the forum pics can they be under 800 on the longest?

Raff

[matt_xyz]

you can upload it to Forum Images in the size that it is. You will then need to PM a mod to amend the thread (I can't do it I'm afraid). Glsammy is always very helpful and efficient (sorry Graham )

Failing that you could upload an 800 pixel sized image to the moderated bird Gallery. Assuming it's accepted (which may take a few hours) you can then PM a mod and ask for that image to be inserted into the thread.

Matt

[glsammy]

Nice shot Raff! I'm ready and waiting to alter the thread!

[aeshna5]

Good shot, Raff- like the way the bird seems to be sitting on a pyramid of Typha stems!