Lee Tiah Khee photographed a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) catching a little fish. The kingfisher then flew it to its original perch to enjoy its meal (above left). Unfortunately, in trying to manipulate the fish for swallowing (above right), the fish slipped free and fell back into the water (below left). The kingfisher simply looked on, as if surprised (below right).

John Vickerman commented on the sequence of photographs thus: “Just goes to show that if you keep watching - or photographing - common birds, sooner or later you’ll come up with something that is seldom recorded. Kingfishers don’t often make mistakes, but this wonderful sequence shows it can happen.”

Images by Lee Tiah Khee.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Kennie Pan caught on video an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx erithacus), also known as Black-backed Kingfisher, casting a pellet.

The kingfisher was quietly perching on a branch when it gaped widely (above left). On the third gape the mandibles remained wide for a few seconds longer before a large black and roundish pellet appeared (above right, below left). And just as suddenly, the pellet was cast.

The kingfisher remained on its perch, mandibles clamped shut and head bobbing on and off. At times it turned its head around, looked down and gaped narrowly.

Another video showed the kingfisher flapping its wings a few times before vigorously flapping them just before flying off.

A paper published on pellet casting by non-raptorial birds can be viewed HERE. Included among the birds photographed casting pellets are two kingfishers - Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) and Ruddy Kingfisher (Halcyon coromanda). With the Oriental Dwarf showcased here, we now have images of three kingfishers casting pellets.

Video grabs taken from Kennie Pan’s videos that are posted in his facebook.

“Many birds eat fish by swallowing them whole. Usually, birds will manipulate the fish to position the prey’s head to face its throat. Swallowing head-first is believed to ease ingestion and prevent sharp fins or spines from being caught in the throat. The attached images showed the process of a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) swallowing a small fish tail-first, which is unusual.



”The kingfisher first caught the fish by diving into the water and spearing it with its sharp bill. The upper mandible was observed to pierce the translucent body of the fish while the lower mandible helped hold onto the fish (above left). The fish was then bashed twice against the bird’s perch (above right).



“Next, the fish was held high above the bird’s head (above left). It was thought that the next sequence would be swallowing fish. Wrong! As the fish was still stuck in the bird’s mandible, the bird had to dislodge the fish first. How did the kingfisher do it? It did it by forward thrusting its head (and bill) to dislodge the fish (above right), then turning to its left and opening its mandibles to immediately swallow it. All this while, the the fish remained in the same position of its tail facing the bird’s throat.



“The actual swallowing was so fast that my camera, which is capable of 3 frames per second, failed to keep up and capture the action. Swallowing a fish by its tail first is a rather unusual method for birds but it is possible when the prey is small (as in this case).

”

Kwong Wai Chong


Singapore
24th December 2009

“I had the good fortune to witness and photograph a White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) diving into the water to bathe. This happened in slow moving water along a canal (above, below). 



“The kingfisher dipped into the water six times, each time taking a short flight along the canal before plunging into the shallow water. Each dip lasted only one to two seconds in the water. After each plunge, the water was agitated by the dive as well as by the furious movements of the immersed bird shaking to clean itself underwater.

“The bird was seen emerging out of the water in a different direction from its pre-dive flight path. It returned to land and rested for a while before continuing with its bath.



“After the 4th dip, the bird was seen flapping its wings and shaking away water. After the fifth dip, the bird was preening and seen reaching its preen gland. It then did a scratch with its left leg extended over its left wing (above).



“Not satisfied, it went for a sixth dip before flying to perch on the railing along the canal (left). There, it shook away the water and stretched out its wings to dry itself under the morning sun. The strikingly colourful wings and fluffy flank feathers that covered its wings partially was quite a sight.

 After five minutes, it looked upwards into the sky before flying away.
”

Kwong Wai Chong


19th December 2009
Singapore

Note:
According to Woodall (2001), “Many kingfishers bathe by dipping in and out of water, after which they move to a loafing site, such as a shady tree, in order to preen. White-throated Kingfishers dip from a low perch into a shallow pool to bathe. They return almost immediately to the perch, where they vigorously shake themselves and wipe the bill on the branch, but they do not then preen. This action may be repeated four or five times.” This observation shows that the kingfisher did preen, but not after each dip in the water.

Reference:
Woodall, P. F., 2001. Family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers). In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 130-249.

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS sent in his encounter with three male White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) in a courtship display in the presence of a female bird. It was way back on 2nd January 2007 in Ipoh in the Malaysian state of Perak.

“The three male kingfishers were perched high up on electrical (high tension) wires. The three were fighting for the attention of the single female who was perching ‘passively’ nearby, watching the display (above).

“There was some aerial ‘dive bombing’ to displace each other from the higher wires. The males at times would ‘face off’ doing displays in front of each other – perhaps to intimidate the other.”