BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fozzybear" data-source="post: 1629382" data-attributes="member: 69297">Thanks Pam, Kathy and Val. It's Daubenton's bats that fly over water, although I'm not sure other types don't if there is prey to be found... probably were Daubenton's though. Really cool to see, I know that!To be fair the Kingfisher chase was very quick and confused, most of what I saw was through a willow and the light was fading so I must admit I'm not actually 100% sure it was three birds but thinking hard about it I do 'think' it was. What I actually saw was: one kingfisher down low perching. A blur went past (I think I saw two but it's jumbled in my memory) and the perching one gave chase with a 'peep'. I saw a blur of kingfishers flying downstream in the shadows, bank around and turn back and as they passed behind the willow a silhouette appeared to break away and fly down into the reeds where the first had been perching and then I saw two Kingfishers flying back upstream. I kept an eye on the reeds and after a bit I did see a Wren hopping around that area. So the third 'could' have been a wren flying down from the willow at exactly the same time the Kingfishers passed to exactly the same spot the Kingfisher had been perched but I'm not really convinced about that as a Wren is pretty small and although it was a quick glimpse of the bird going back to the reeds I'm reasonably sure it was a Kingfisher, based on size and flight. I wrote the post when I came home convinced it was three but after sleeping I have a slight doubt, although I still think it 'probably' was three. I'm not totally sure so I thought I'd write down what I remember of the encounter as I don't want to 'claim' something when I have doubts. Not that it 'really' matters but I couldn't leave the entry without a clarification as I'd feel I had misled everyone, although the important thing is that I saw a kingfisher, then another, heard one peeping (a first for me!), a chase and then two flying upstream... which is a lot of kingfisher activity! That's all I can say with certainty though.</blockquote>

Verification