The kingfisher is one of the most elusive and sought-after birds for wildlife photographers. I have spent countless hours searching for them, traveling far and wide to find the perfect spot to capture their beauty on camera. I’ve even waded out into the river Ribble to get close to kingfishers, hoping for the perfect shot.

One day, while photographing a Song Thrush in my local forest, a neighbour approached me and asked if I had seen the family of kingfishers that lived on the lodge at the back of my house. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing – I had been searching for these elusive birds for years, and they were right in my backyard!
To get access to the lodge, I became a member of the fishing club (with no intention of doing any fishing – I was leaving that to the kingfishers!). Nearly every day for a year, I went to the lodge to photograph them. At first, they were very wary of me, and I needed to use a ghillie suit and a popup Nitehawk hide to get close to them.

For this particular shot, I used a Nikon D50, and the Sigma 150-600c lens. The camera settings I found best were 1/1000’s and faster shutter speed, F8 which is the sharpest part of my lens, Pin Point AF and continuous AF, and ISO set to auto. Other equipment I used included a tripod with a gimbal head, Nikon D3300 (I love this work horse of a camera), Nitehawk popup hide, camouflage scrim netting, and a real-tree ghillie suit.

Luckily, for the majority of the day, the sun was always behind me and shone on the kingfishers’ favorite perches. When the male kingfisher landed within 10 feet of me and sat and posed for a while, happily letting me take its photograph, it was an amazing experience, if not my best wildlife experience I’ve ever had.

Over two years, I have racked up a lot of experiences with the kingfishers. I have seen two broods being brought up and witnessed a lot of kingfisher behaviors. One key to photographing kingfishers is patience and keeping extremely still. My experiences with the kingfishers will stay with me for the rest of my life.

In post-processing, I did some minor adjustments, such as cropping the photo and adjusting the exposure. My thought process behind these decisions was to emphasize the kingfisher’s stunning colors and to make the bird stand out from the background.

The kingfisher is a challenging yet rewarding subject for wildlife photographers. With patience, determination, and a little luck, anyone can capture stunning shots of these elusive birds. Thank you for reading, and please share your own wildlife photography experiences in the comments below.
Till next time,
Scott
Species: Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
Description: The common kingfisher is a small, brightly colored bird that can be found near rivers and other bodies of water across Europe and Asia. It has a distinctive turquoise blue and orange plumage and is known for its fast, direct flight and impressive fishing skills.