Close Encounters of the Kingfisher Kind 5th August 2019

Following a successful visit to see the Kingfishers at Shrike Meadow last Thursday I returned today, true it was more in hope than expectation but it seemed sensible to try and make the most of the current good show being put on there by two or more juvenile Kingfishers.

Mind you it did not augur well, as I had bumped into S at Farmoor Reservoir on Saturday, who was walking back from the hide and informed me he had just spent six fruitless hours waiting for a Kingfisher to arrive. Yikes! So I was prepared for the worst and accepted that nothing could be taken for granted.

Another pleasant day of sunshine with a strongish wind accompanied me to the hide at just before 10am and opening the door I found that this time I was not alone, as it was already occupied by another two birders/photographers who obviously had heard about the Kingfishers and come to try their luck. News about the Kingfishers is obviously spreading as more and more images of them appear on social media.

Fortuitously, for once there was not to be long hours of waiting, as I was informed that there was a Kingfisher, barely visible, perched in the usual alder tree overhanging the pool and no sooner had I sat down on the wooden bench than it flew from the tree and landed on the post in front of the hide. 

Perfect.

We clicked away with cameras as the Kingfisher sat in the sun displaying the full glory of its plumage to us as it now sat on the post, before diving into the pool and successfully catching a water beetle. There then ensued a back and fore performance from the Kingfisher as it alternated perching in the overhanging alder and then on the post, making further fishing attempts from both positions which, as far as I could see, were unsuccessful. After about twenty minutes it flew at great speed across the pool and surrounding reeds, disappearing through the trees in the direction of the nearby River Thames. It had gone for now but when would it return was the question left hanging in the air.

We sat and waited and to much relief the Kingfisher duly returned after about forty minutes, so we indulged ourselves in more picture taking before it decided to depart after what was a relatively prolonged stay. This time one of my fellow occupants in the hide also decided time was up for him and left. Shortly after the other person departed too, wishing me luck as he closed the hide door.

So it was back to my customary solitary vigil and I sat  for an hour or more and then the Kingfisher was back, appearing suddenly from over the reeds and flying directly to the post where it sat for a while before commencing fishing and again was generally unsuccessful. It was a juvenile, possibly different from the one we had seen earlier in the day which was also a juvenile. 

This is the time when juvenile Kingfishers are at their most vulnerable, having to make their own way in a world full of danger, needing to learn fast how to catch prey and where to find it, if they want to survive. I guess their young age meant they were not that adept at fishing yet but the practice would do them good. Hopefully they will improve their technique before  harder weather arrives, although that seemed a very distant prospect on such a pleasant late summer's day as this.

The Kingfisher departed once more and to cut a long story short proceeded to return at irregular intervals for the next couple of hours so that I was persuaded to remain in the hide long after my planned departure at noon. This really was too good an opportunity to miss. The time passed enjoyably enough, no one else came and I was alone with the Kingfisher. I found out that the pool did contain some small fish as well as water beetles, when I saw the Kingfisher catch a tiny fish which it duly whacked into submission on a branch of the alder tree.

Then in the early afternoon my extended stay brought an unexpected treat when not one but two Kingfishers arrived, almost simultaneously, at the pool.

It was not a happy meeting as the first Kingfisher to settle on the post fought off the arrival of the second, which also fancied the post as a perch and made a determined effort to land there. Accompanied by high pitched, angry whistling from both birds,  the second Kingfisher tried its best to usurp the other from the post but the occupier of the post stoutly defended its position with open bill and spread wings while the other attacked it from the air. 

It was a brief skirmish with, for a second, the two birds locking bills. So thrilling to observe two birds that normally sit quietly and silently indulging in such noisy and violent activity. Looking at the images it is noticeable just what a formidable weapon they possess in that long dagger of a bill.

The second bird having been repelled flew to a branch in the nearby alder and perched there. Both birds were visibly upset and any fishing was long forgotten as they struggled to contain their conflicting emotions, which they expressed with deliberately exaggerated movements of their heads and bodies. I watched them adopt strange, sinuous, almost reptilian attitudes, holding their bills partly open and attenuating their heads and bodies, contorting into various positions while compressing their feathers so they became attenuated rather than plump and rounded.

It became a standoff as both birds, although now separated by a few metres of water, had no intention of backing down from their respective positions. After fifteen minutes the Kingfisher on the post flew to settle on the same branch of the alder as the other. It was an aggressive move, calculated to intimidate although it made sure it settled far enough away to leave a couple of metres between itself and its rival. They remained here almost immobile, apart from adopting yet more contorted attitudes, while occasionally spreading wings and opening bills in a half hearted gesture of aggression.

Finally they both flew off around the tree and out of sight. Maybe they perched there or maybe they flew off further. I had no way of telling as my view was obscured by the tree's dense foliage.

Ten minutes later a Kingfisher returned and took up position on the post. It was as if nothing had happened. Whether it was the original occupier of the post I have no idea.

Kingfishers are solitary and territorial birds outside of the breeding season and here was an obvious and dramatic example of this in practice. I found it remarkable that it should manifest itself so soon in two juvenile birds not long out of the nest. 

Whether these two juveniles were siblings and from a brood raised by the resident pair of adult Kingfishers I have no way of knowing. They could just as well be other juveniles dispersing along the river looking to set up a territory. Maybe with a bit more observation I will find out although the hide, now the news is out about the Kingfishers, is becoming increasingly popular.

No more peaceful vigils in the hide. It will not be quite the same again I fear.