Got up early this morning and took a quick birding trip to Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs N.C. to see what I could and was rewarded with a nice view of this female Belted Kingfisher.
These birds have an uncanny ability to sense when I’m taking their photo and usually fly off with a rattling call of amusement only to land again just outside the limits of my focal range lol! Today, I got lucky 😉

A year round resident of North Carolina, Belted Kingfishers are also a familiar sight to many in the Western Hemisphere. Their breeding range stretches from Alaska, Canada and all the way down to into Florida. When winter arrives, Kingfishers in the far northern areas will migrate to the southern United States and northern South America.

They are super entertaining to watch hunt for fish. Hovering above the water, their dark brown eyes are able to see colors and shapes distinctly through the glare of sunlight sparkling on the waves and are even capable of seeing in binocular vision.
Once they zero in on a fish, they tuck their wings tightly to their sides and dive straight down into the water like a feathered missile to stab their prey.
Once the fish is secured in their bill, they’ll fly off to finish the job. Because fish are often large and wriggling (and thus difficult to eat), Kingfishers kill their prey by beating them on the ground (or their perch) to shatter the bones.
Then, they work the fish into their mouths, head first, so that they won’t get cut up by the bones or scales as they swallow it whole.
Crazy!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty full frame 50 megapixel beast of an SLR, the @canonusa
#5ds