Kingfisher Diary (with photos)

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by SparklySarah

Anyone know if there are any resident kingfishers be the River Wye in Herefordshire? I've never seen one in the wild before!

Sarah

If you google 'Kingfishers on River Wye' you'll find numerous references to Kingfishers being a common sight on the river.

On larger rivers they're often best seen from the river itself and I see that "Kingfisher Cruises" offer day trips from Symonds Yat - I would hope that they live up to their name but on a large boat full of people you'll probably get no more than a fleeting glimpse of irridescent blue as a bird flies away.

An even better option would be to hire a canoe for a few hours (if that's a practical proposition for you) - this gives you the opportunity to glide up (or down) the river in silence and to linger around any likely perching spots you might discover.

Good luck - Kingfishers are very much a 'once seen, never forgotten' bird and they are by far and away our most exotic looking British resident.

Jeff

[targetman]

hi jeff
its people like you that makes this such a woderful site shareing your wonderful captures not all of us are lucky enough to have what youve got but its nice of you to give us this lovely chance to see what were missing look forward to next episode many thanks targetman.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Sarah

If you google 'Kingfishers on River Wye' you'll find numerous references to Kingfishers being a common sight on the river.

On larger rivers they're often best seen from the river itself and I see that "Kingfisher Cruises" offer day trips from Symonds Yat - I would hope that they live up to their name but on a large boat full of people you'll probably get no more than a fleeting glimpse of irridescent blue as a bird flies away.

An even better option would be to hire a canoe for a few hours (if that's a practical proposition for you) - this gives you the opportunity to glide up (or down) the river in silence and to linger around any likely perching spots you might discover.

Good luck - Kingfishers are very much a 'once seen, never forgotten' bird and they are by far and away our most exotic looking British resident.

Jeff

We go on a River cruise from Newark in Notts, it's proved a superb way to see all sorts of wildlife, especially Kingfishers. On the last one we went on last year, we had seven sightings, including one bird perched on a branch as we went by.

[sborth]

many congrats on your Kingfishers, i have been trying to get a pic of one not too far from where i live, i have sat for hours and at best i get a blue flash flying by, now ive seen your photo's i will have to try harder, personally i believe the kingfisher is one of the best birds we have in this country and a sign that all is not lost with our waterways. keep up the good work and i look forward to more news on these magnificent creatures.

[JeffH]

UPDATE – 19th May

Thanks again to everyone for your kind words and continuing interest in this thread.

Well folks, I’m afraid there’s not much more to report since my full update of 9th May and brief follow up of 12th May, though I suppose the good news is that I have seen nothing more of the 2nd male and that our established pair now seem to be well settled again and in their regular incubation routine in the 2nd nest hole.

They’ve re-adopted their ‘shift’ pattern of each bird spending between 50 minutes and about 1 ¼ hours sitting on the eggs and, if my calculations are correct, hatching should take place between about the 30th May and 2nd June.

During one of my recent visits to the site I was a little concerned to observe a Sparrowhawk emerge from a gap in the woodland immediately above the bank in which the Kingfishers’ nest hole is situated and on a flight path that took it right over one of their regular perching positions! Fortunately, neither bird was about at the time and as I haven’t seen this before in any of my 30+ visits to the site I’m hoping this isn’t one of the Sparrowhawk’s regular hunting routes. Much as I love birds of prey I’d hate to see it take one of the Kingfishers

That’s about it for the moment and I’ll probably wait until hatching takes place in about 12 – 14 days time (hopefully!) before posting another update and unless, of course, anything of real interest occurs before then. In the meantime, here’s another couple of photos – one showing another fish pass from male to female and one of the female calling her mate out of the nesthole to take over incubation.

Jeff

[mrs fish]

More lovely photos
Fingers crossed the sparrowhawk thinks kingfishers are not tasty, the s hawks around here are taking lots of birds at the moment including birds by the canal, to see a collared dove now is a rare sight as they seem to have been the hawks fav food, people feed the ducks and the doves come along to finish off the crumbs along the bank, the hawk knows this

[buzfuz8149]

Good photos again Jeff, I am counting the days off to the end of the month.

Carol.

[JeffH]

UPDATE – 1st June 2007

On behalf of Mr & Mrs Kingfisher I’m delighted to announce the birth (hatching) of their babies – number as yet unknown!

Having been observing these birds for nearly 3 months now with more than 40 site visits and having seen them have to abandon (for whatever reason?) their 1st choice nest site, I’m absolutely thrilled to report that hatching took place right on cue overnight on the 30th/31st May.

As mentioned in my update of 19th May and based on my observations of the birds’ behaviour during the final stages of the egg laying phase, I’d calculated that hatching would occur between the 30th May and 2nd June. With this in mind I decided to start to visit the site on a daily basis starting on the 29th May when I made an early evening visit of 1 hour and 10 minutes but without seeing or hearing either bird during that time

This worried me slightly and I was back on site at 4.20am the next morning (at first light) as in my experience the birds are always much more active in the early morning than in the evening. Sure enough (and much to my relief), I had close-range sightings of both birds during the next 1 ½ hours before returning home to get ready for work. However, their behaviour indicated that at that stage incubation was still in progress.

I was on site at 4.20am again yesterday (the 31st May) and, unusually, found the male already sitting on the perch I’d placed within a few feet of the nest hole. Unfortunately I disturbed him whilst getting my dome hide into position – I think this is the 1st time I’ve actually disturbed either bird on any of my 40+ visits – but he was back on the perch within 10 minutes and after several minutes spent preening made a quick visit to the nest hole before flying off.

Ten minutes later he was back again but this time carried a tiny fish of no more than about
3 cms in his bill. This fish was much smaller than any I’ve seen either bird with before and, knowing that the parents feed their new hatchlings with such small fish (and then steadily increase the size of fish as the chicks grow), I realised that this probably meant that hatching had begun – and, I confess, was duly excited by the prospect!

By the time I left the site at just after 8am the adult birds had delivered at least 9 very small fish to the nest hole, with one or other of them staying in the nest after each delivery and with the male doing most of the fishing. Each time either bird left the nest they made one or two of the shallow cleansing dips into the water as I’ve described previously, but I’ve now managed to get a shot of this behaviour and it follows amongst the photos at the end of this update.

I visited the site again for just under 1 hour yesterday evening and during that time saw the male bring in 3 small fish.

I was there yet again for nearly 4 hours from first light this morning and observed exactly the same behaviour with the parent birds delivering at least 8 fish to the nest by the time I left.

So, after nearly 3 weeks of relatively little activity around the nest site during the period of incubation, suddenly it’s all systems go as the parent birds begin the task of rearing their young and catching and delivering upwards of 2,000 small fish over a period of 23 – 27 days whilst the young birds remain in the nest.

I’m looking forward to some great photo opportunities during that period but also to seeing the young emerge from the nest around the 22nd to 26th June – I’m probably going to have to live in my hide for that few days! In the meantime, I’ll keep you all posted with regular updates and here’s a few of my latest photos – of variable quality but I hope you like them.

Jeff

Mum looking rather bedraggled on first leaving the nesthole on the morning after the hatching of her babies!



Dad with what I believe is the first fish to be fed to his newly hatched babies -



Mum takes her turn with the feeding of the family -



Approaching the nest -



Dad flies in with 'fish of the day' no. 8 - probably my best flight shot to date



Dad takes a 'cleansing' dip on leaving the nest -



The proud parents together (playing 'bookends'?) - Mum on left and Dad on right -



and finally, the side view from my hide as the sun came up this morning - did I not want to go to work

[rlchew]

Terrific news .... excellent photos .... and I don't think anyone would want to go to work if they were greeted with a sunrise like that.

Keep us posted Jeff ....

Richard

[John]

Stunning report Jeff and I noticed the photos in the Forum galleries first. That sunrise is something else. Brilliant shot but it certainly is good news that hatching has taken place. Lovely Kingfisher shots as usual but the flight shot is a real belter.

I can't wait to see the young ones come out and show themselves.

John