Ridgefield Kingfisher

On Nov. 7, 2012, I happened upon my best opportunity yet at photographing a Belted Kingfisher at the Ridgefield NWR.  Where I’m typically lucky to get within 30-50 feet of one and maybe 2 or 3 shots before they fly, here I spent a good 20 minutes shooting this bird from about 25-30 feet with no obstructions to deal with.  The negatives were that the bird was on the shady side of the tree it was perched in and it was up higher than I would have preferred.  But I won’t complain after shooting hundreds of frames of this bird–so many that I deleted hundreds of duplicate-posed, sharp shots that I didn’t need.  He dove into the water below him at least 10 times while I was there, scooping up small minnows and such–this is why he looks so wet.  He was fun to watch and a joy to shoot as the bird vocalized its distinct rattle through it all.  The 5DM3 camera body gave me a plethora of sharp shots to choose from, which was quite a chore.  I feel so sorry for me!   🙂

Taken with my Canon 5DM3, 1/400, f5.6, ISO800, Canon 400mm f5.6L lens.