Mangrove Kingfisher

[Ken Watkins]

I must admit that initially I thought this was very much like a Woodland Kingfisher, but the bill on this one is all red.

Taken on the Wami River whilst staying in Saadani Game Reserve, Tanzania, 11th September 2010.

EOS 1D Mk IV

500mm F4 Is hand-held from drifting boat

F5, ISO 800, 1/500, EV -0.33

[Daniel Cadieux]

Is that mud in its bill? Nest building I guess. Neat greyish/baby powder blue plumage. HA could be a tad better IMO, and the fine detail seems a bit coarse...was this cropped alot? Nice BG - I'd only tone down the lighter areas directly in front of the bill, and the faint horizontal line along top of frame.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Agree with Daniel's critique. A beautiful bird for sure. Liked the composition a lot.

[Randy Stout]

KEN:

Daniel hit the important points. Colorful fellow, not often seen on BPN. Was struck by the slight coarseness of the image detail as well.

Hope to see more of this fellow!

Randy

[Ken Watkins]

Yes I have to confess to trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but it was a bird I had not seen before. The lighting was poor and we were too far away, the crop was great resulting in the poor IQ.

Daniel,

It is mud, and probably something to do with nesting, I had no idea what was in the mouth until I processed the image.