Just lucked into this one, I know the quality isn't great ( 5D; 70-200 w/1.4x tc is all I had), but I'll take it!

Mark

cropped quite a bit:



cropped even more:

These guys are hard to catch Mark from what I read here on FM.
You did well to seize the opportunity and with the gear you had.
I like the first one best, almost looks like he is saying, No Swimming, can't you see
Martin

Those little son of a guns are teasers that is for sure! This is like bait to get you to come back and chase them again You have a good start, now go back again and again and again and ......................good luck! Congrats!

Karl...............

very good for the first KF... you would wish to have cropping body to have it more closer look, bit of PP require in this shot..... lovely looking kf here

Very good first KF Mark. My first KF looked like a mosquito in the pic
Dan

Thanks for the comments fellas.

Karl, to be honest, I had serious doubts as to whether we had Kingfishers in Indiana or not... I mean, I read that they live here, but I had never seen one in my 2 years of shooting birds until today.

Munzir, yes, definitely would want a cropper if I was going out for birds, especially these small guys, but I was just out hoping to shoot a few geese with my son and lucked into this KF showing up.

Dan, With no cropping, this one looks similar to your mosquito! lol.

Mark

Congratulations Mark,

I know just how hard it is to catch one of these guys....

They laugh & mock me all the time.

Lil

Hey Mark, congratulations. The first time you capture any species is always special, and I'm glad that you shared it with us. My wife and I will be in the Bloomington, IN area shooting fall colors this weekend. Where did you see this guy at? I know that there are KF's at Lake Monroe (though I have yet to capture one there).


Dave

The elusive Belted KF, one of my favorites! Congrats on the capture, that's an exciting moment!

I just saw my first KF ever last weekend, but it was about 75 yards out. Even with a 500, had to crop so much that the image is pretty degraded.

Thanks Lil, this is the 1st KF I've ever seen, but there's a GBH or two in the area that taunt and mock me most of the time I go to this same area.

David, thanks, I saw him at a small lake just southeast of Indianapolis about 2 miles from my house.

Thanks Jim, exciting it was! I couldn't believe he was just sitting there waiting for me to snap off 4-5 frames before he took off. If I had my old 1D2 and 400, I would have had about 20 frames and twice the reach, agh!!! lol....

Mark

Congrats Mark! You may never get closer than that with these guys They can be so difficult. Better luck next time, there will be one now that you know this guy is around

Tim

A first is a first... congratulations Mark.

My experience with the SoCal KF's has been pretty good. Yes, they're skittish... but I have found that they never fly too far away so you can follow them at times fairly easily and once in awhile get some closer than usual opportunities. So be patient, persistent, and stealthy.

Better luck next time... because there's always next time.

Kirk

Thanks Tim and Kirk. I'm not very good at being stealthy (or patient!), I'm afraid I'm gonna have to rely on good old fashioned luck to have this happen again! haha!

Mark

Congrats Mark, nice capture!

Migara wrote:
Congrats Mark, nice capture!

Thank you

mark

Not bad for a first attempt!

I have been trying to get a decent shot of a Kingfisher all summer. It is has been one of my favorites since I first saw one on the Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin. I have seen as many as four at a time in a tree but too far away. They seem to be among the most averse to any approach and seem to find perches that are difficult or impossible to get near without being detected . I thought I had one earlier this week but it flew into a tree with the sun behind it. Then it saw me before I could get to the other side of the tree and left. This a heavily cropped shot from across a slough.

I call these guys Devil birds for good reason. I've come to the conclusion that it will be pure luck to get a good shot of one.

Confratulations on your capture. They prefer certain perches so maybe hide out early to get a better opportunity with this one.

Yesterday this Kingfisher toyed with me for about an hour. I identified three favored perches along the shore of a small island, Marsh Island for locals, and each time I got any kind of clear view it flew to one of the other perches. Fun but a bit frustrating.