Now I am back home in the UK and reflecting on my trip away, I am almost back to normal. I have spent the last 4 or 5 days sorting through the hundreds of photographs taken. I have to say that it proved more difficult than expected to photograph the Kingfishers but I did have a bit of success. By far the most common Kingfisher was the Pied ((Ceryle rudis) and consequently I took the most photographs of this species. They have a particular habit of hovering high for for several seconds before plunging down in to the water beneath. This is a real spectacle and makes for a real photo opportunity. Here are a few photos of this very interesting behaviour.
They start by circling above the water before starting to hover.
This bird is a female, you can tell by the single patch of black on the white breast.
I also saw a male on this stretch of water, it seems that they are territoriall because I watched one bird chase the other away aggressively on one ocassion.
.........a successful hunt.
This is a male with a double chest bar.
I was pleased when I went to the Buzzard hide this early afternoon, in only a matter of minutes, hardly before I had time to conceal myself in fact, one of the Buzzards came in to investigate. It perched on the fence opposite and after checking that everything was safe, after a couple of minutes, it flew in to take the free offering off the post. It didn't land but picked up the chick, acrobatically in flight.
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