Pictured: Colourful Kingfisher caught before being ringed

by stvalentine | July 2, 2008 at 08:18 am | 338 views | 8 comments

Beak wide open and clearly in distress, this bird appears to have hopelessly trapped itself in garden netting.

In fact the tiny kingfisher in this extraordinary photograph was captured by experts recording bird numbers and movements.

They used a fine-mesh 'mist net' to trap 26 more specimens including goldfinches, wrens, robins, starlings, goldcrests and reed warblers.

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Howard Platt

at 16:09 on July 2nd, 2008

This ringed kingfisher is sitting on a garden hose over a canal in a Mexican village. It was nesting nearby and did not seem to mind the activity of the local Mexicans but it was very wary of my camera!

Howard Platt has contributed a photo to this story.

LynchburgVirginia

at 16:59 on July 2nd, 2008

Thanks for using my photo, and I wish you success with your article.

LynchburgVirginia has contributed a photo to this story.

prav75

at 18:00 on July 2nd, 2008

this one's a free one... and was not caught at all.. it was a real difficult pic to get as the bird would keep soaring down to the water to pick up a fish. This pic was taken when it was finding it difficult to have its meal.. and thats wen i captured this... :-)

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gorgo7

at 18:10 on July 2nd, 2008

Photo taken at the Independence Marsh in Pennsylvania.
There are many Kingfishers there but they are not easy to get good photos because they don't let you get very close.

gorgo7 has contributed a photo to this story.

HPGFOTO

at 18:39 on July 2nd, 2008

Photograph taken off in Portugal lagoon of Obidos. Bird in freedom.
Regards
Hugo

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relbugman

at 23:06 on July 2nd, 2008

This kingfisher was a daily visitor to Selva Verde, Costa Rica. A few seconds after this photo it took off for the day. It did not seem particularly bothered by the rain, but I don't think it could hunt below the dimpled surface of the Sarapiqui. The experience gave meaning to the concept of 'rain forest'.

Pyach

at 18:23 on July 19th, 2008

Taken November 07 in Tortuguero National Wildlife Reserve, Costa Rica.
10 minutes of silently drifting towards the Kingfisher in a Canoe and a 200mm telephoto lens later, i managed to get this shot!

Pyach has contributed a photo to this story.

snggould

at 20:32 on July 27th, 2008

This Ringed Kinfisher was photographed in the Pantanal of Brazil in July 2007. She'd just landed right above us after catching the fish which can be seen in her bill. We were quite lucky to get the picture because daylight was gone within the next five minutes.

snggould has contributed a photo to this story.