[va-richmond-general] Belted kingfisher, The Wetlands
- From: "Janice Frye" <jjfdc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 19:49:42 -0400
I saw the male enter the burrow to the right with a single fish this
morning. He did not exit as far as I could tell over the next 20 minutes
and then I had to leave. I would guess this means that eggs have not
hatched since it was just the one fish and there seems to be no urgency
about feeding. I had to crouch for quite awhile in tall grass down toward
the river until he decided it was safe to enter. He sat for so long softly
rattling and surveying the area that my leg muscles were very painful! I
have seen a good bit of silent flight near the burrows and yesterday, after
not looking for weeks, I noticed that the burrows were well traveled and
free of cobwebs. I had suspected that the right burrow was the one with the
nest chamber and that the left burrow was the male's roost. This is not a
good photo op unless you have lots of time and a blind, so don't worry about
directions if you don't already know the location. If they don't like the
looks of a blind, there may not be adequate feeding of her or hatchlings.
It has taken two springs to get this much of a look at their activity,
unless someone is not telling everything! There has clearly been activity
across from the burrows, but it could have been a fisherman.. Have a great
evening.
Jan
PS The new CCB newsletter has an article about bank nesting birds. There
are also lots of photos and information online about kingfisher nests.
Arthur Bent is one source that comes to mind (Birds by Bent?).
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- » [va-richmond-general] Belted kingfisher, The Wetlands - Janice Frye
