Pied Kingfishers at the sea?
Oh yeah! We discovered a river mouth on the beach teeming with birdlife!
Kingfishers are normally inland birds that hunt in lakes, dams and estuaries, but I have never seen any on the beach itself. That was until we discovered this family of five that hunts in a pond right on the beach. What a show.
Let's have a look!
This is where the river runs into the sea!
Here the river formed a small pond on the beach during its natural flow!
And it's at this pond where the kingfishers hunt. Here we have one hovering!
Fish too big? No! He slapped it on the rock to kill it!
Then he lined the fish up!
Boom! He flipped the fish over and swallowed it head first!
Unfortunately the early morning sun was very sharp and the clouds didn't make things any easier to take photos, but I think that this is not too bad?
I tried to make a video, but most of it came out blank due to the sun, but now that we know this place, we will certainly return to get more action on camera.
We hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and thanks for the visit to a post by @papilloncharity
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
Of course I enjoyed your photos and am disgusted with myself for not getting over more frequently to see what's up with you! This place! There is so much to see and do here that there simply are not enough hours in the day! Glad to see you in Feathered Friday though!
Thank you Lady Melinda and please no need for any apologies, as we are all very busy on steemit, trying to keep our heads above the water. But most of us that's left here after the down turn are fighters and we have hope for the future. I will continue to place the shots of the fancy chickens (birds) in #featheredfriday.
Good to see you!
Blessings!
Howdy there papilloncharity! amazing shots here, wow! I just don't see them with the bird actually eating the fish! Great job, this was very interesting.
Howdy Sir @janton, thank you and I am glad that you liked it. Kingfishers spear their target with their beaks and the swallow them whole. I don't think I've ever seen a kingfisher eating fish as they don't have a raptor bird's beak. Blessings!
howdy again sir papilloncharity! Well those were such great shots and you are very welcome!
Thank you sir and I appreciate your kindness!
I have visited your page and the Butch & Sundance posts are terrific!
Then I also posted a comment and picture of our vultures in your vulture post & upvoted in return!
All of the best to you!
Blessings!
Stephen
howdy again sir papilloncharity! thank you! I missed that comment and photos, I'll go right over there.
What does your username pertain to?
@janton We run a registered charity for the past 18 years in South Africa and its name is The Papillon Foundation. The word Papillon is French meaning Butterfly.
Blessings!
Howdy again sir papilloncharity! That is tremendous! How do you get your funding?
And who do you try to help the most?
A nice series of shots, I am glad you found your scribbled note. I just love the way some birds can just hover and then make that deep dive for food.
Thank you my friend. The Dark Shouldered Kite, of the Hawk family also hovers above their prey and their dive is even more amazing. They catch rodents and I have a few shots where they sit with rats in their beaks.
The kingfishers are a bit more difficult to get in their dive, due to their smaller size.
Is that a Chihuahua in your tag photo?
If it is, we also have one little cheeky one and his name is Troy!
Blessings!
Yes, he is a little merle chihuahua, our little rock, may weigh a whopping 4 pounds if that. His name is Granite.
Great, ours is a little bit bitter at 3.8 kilograms and his name is Troy. He will soon be 14 years old!
That's amazing. So nice to look at...
Thank you my friend, the ways of mother nature hide many secrets for us to discover. Can you believe that we are now in 2019 and every day they still discover new insects, fish and animals?
Blessings!
@keithboone Greetings Sir! I was invited by someone to also place my bird posts in the #featheredfriday tag and I found the tag in my scribbled notes! Please advise if this is good enough, as I have edited the post and added your tag #featheredfriday? Blessings. Stephen
Good enough? Certainly, more than good enough! Your photos are great. I'm glad you found the tag... For best results, I recommend dropping a link to your post in the comments to my post. Take a look, you'll see how many people are doing it: https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@keithboone/feathered-friday-the-eagle-has-landed
I think you'll get extra views that way. Thanks again and I hope to see you next week!
Thank you Sir Keith, posted the link and upvoted! I will try to make next week. Blessings!
That's awesome, thank you!
No! Thank you Sir!
All great guesses are in each picture sheet ..All shots look amazing ,Hopefully one day I can take a great guess like this..😍😍
Thank you and you already take great photos my friend!
Blessings!
Wow, excellent photos! Thank you for using the FeatheredFriday tag! Voted and resteemed. Have a great weekend :-)
Thank you and I am glad that it worked Sir Keith. I will now remember (I hope) to place my feathered photos in #featheredfriday
Blessings!
These photos must have taken you hours to capture! Very patient, very good camera too!
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Thank you and thankfully there were some clouds around, as the African sun is fierce.
It's no fun waiting in the sun!
Blessings!
Nice place... good photos. Congratulation my friens 😉
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Thank you Sir and glad that you liked it! Blessings!
Hello @papilloncharity! 👋
I miss your beautiful real stories & its good to be back ❤️
Awesome king fisher! ”if there’s a will, there’s a way!” indeed.
Thank you Lady Joy and glad to see you are back and thank you for the kind words.
The kingfishers are a spirited little family and it was great to see them in action!
Blessings!