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The Elusive Kingfisher (1 Viewer)

Never have I seen a more rare and elusive bird than the Kingfisher. I came across this beautiful bird by chance. It is impossible to see it with the naked eye on the river where these kingfishers live. One has to see them via binoculars or zoomed in camera lens. They are ever so difficult to photograph too. One has to be extremely patient, keep still and stand or sit in stress positions for hours!

I managed to capture 2 shots in so many weeks if not months of trying.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alimakaveliphotography/17734644025

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alimakaveliphotography/14163867406
 
Wow , great shots! I've seen a few Kinfishers , but it does require a lot of patience to spot one. I once went to RSPB Ham Wall and around the main hide are reeds , and on one of the reeds was a beautfiul male kingfisher. He was about 2 meters away from us , be he seemed totally relaxed and stayed for 10 minutes!
 
really great! I am glad you got the shots after all that work. Also you have some beautiful pictures on your Flickr feed I just started to follow you there.
 
Perches, that's all you need (no, not the fish). I have over 100 pics of our local KF, but then I have a hide and several perches pushed into the river bank (at 45 deg overhanging the river with the end 75-100cm above the water surface). I was once given the tip of doing that and putting a bowl of mealworms underneath, covered in a perspex plate to look like food under a water surface. I soon found out I just needed the perch and a lot of patience, if you are on their usual rat run they will readily take a rest on anything overhanging the river.
 
I was once given the tip of doing that and putting a bowl of mealworms underneath, covered in a perspex plate to look like food under a water surface. I soon found out I just needed the perch and a lot of patience, if you are on their usual rat run they will readily take a rest on anything overhanging the river.

I'm OK with the perch, hide and patience but whoever gave you the perspex covered plate tip needs to curb his/her ego! This could easily cause concussion or worse for the Kingfisher. Golden rule of bird photography - always put the bird first!
 
I'm OK with the perch, hide and patience but whoever gave you the perspex covered plate tip needs to curb his/her ego! This could easily cause concussion or worse for the Kingfisher. Golden rule of bird photography - always put the bird first!

Quite agree, that's an incredibly stupid piece of advice.
 
I'll be the first to admit I'm unsure of the rarity of the Kingfisher in the UK vs Luxembourg, but I'll vouch for the fact that this shot appeared to take a lifetime! As a personal favourite, I've been trying to photograph the elusive Kingfisher for many months. I managed to bag this rushed and just in focus shot at a local nature reserve the other week. Absolutely made my day...

https://flic.kr/p/zREZ9y

by Chris Harris, on Flickr
 
We had some in our compound, they were very difficult to spot, and I'm not sure if they're still there because we haven't seen them in a while. They're very fast and don't keep still for long.
 
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