The Quickest Way To Her Heart Is Through Her Stomach: Blue-Eared Kingfishers

22nd May 2011, Kemensah, Selangor

These birds have been receiving a lot of attention lately. At last I found a bit of time to actually sit down and  observe their behavior in their natural habitat. This is what I saw…. A young female resting  on her favourite perch…a bamboo overhanging a pond. The male came with a small fish  and  started moving closer and closer towards the female.   He gestured with his head indicating that he was offering  the fish to her. She took the fish .  The shutter speed  ( 1/125s) was not fast enough to freeze the movement of the heads at the moment when the fish was passed to the female. Gulp. The male was probably  thinking ‘Ok,  was that fish enough to get her undivided attention?’.   Both birds started diving into the pond below to clean themselves. The male flew off after igniting the booster rocket! The young female left but she  came back  later with a sizeable fish between her bill and… she had the whole fish for herself !