Kingfisher Blue

How often have I gone out to photograph something and come back with something totally different?

Always be prepared to change your goal.

A good example was on a recent trip to Corbett NP, Dhikala Zone where I was tracking tigers.

It had been a long day and even though I saw lots of tigers on my trips I can go one or two days without sightings.

On this occasion we were crossing the river that flows into the dam. The river was low as we were now into the long hot season with no rain.

Anil spotted some activity on the far side of the river. A steppe eagle was creating a commotion in a tree. It was difficult to see if it had fallen from its nest, was attacking something or caught up. It eventually appeared from the tree and flew onto a large rock where it groomed itself and sunbathed in the late afternoon sunlight.

While I was watching and photographing the steppe eagle Anil noticed a pair of kingfishers on rocks on our side of the river.

“Mr Andy there are kingfishers close by.”

It took my attention away from the steppe eagle and I looked for the kingfishers. Right enough there they were on two different rocks about a meter apart.

I refocused on the the kingfishers and watched the performance.

They stood looking at each other for a while, then one, the male, flew across to the female and started to rub beaks with her. He then flew off and left the female on the rock. After a few minutes he returned with a fish and offered it to her and she duly accepted it. There was some more canoodling and he then hopped onto her back , there was a flurry of wing flapping as he tried to balance himself while performing and mating with her. Soon after he flew off and left her on her own. She dived into the water along side and bathed. After a few minutes she hopped back onto the rock to dry herself in the sunlight and then it was her time to fly off.

I managed to fire off a burst of images and captured some beautiful images of this rarely witnessed encounter.

All over in a matter of minutes and witnessed by few.

I thought to myself how this mimics modern human courtship!

The approach, the kiss, the gift, the acceptance, the dancing, the intimacy, the tidy up and the male moving on!

Isn’t nature a wonderful thing.