Sacred kingfisher: hunting behaviour

We looked briefly at where you can find kingfishers but we also need to understand their behaviour once you’ve found them.

Out of breeding season, kingfishers spent the majority of their time hunting. Unlike some other species of kingfisher, the sacred kingfisher is an incredibly un-fussy eater and will eat just about anything it can get its beak around. They can be commonly seen eating small crabs, skinks, worms, crayfish, small fish, cicadas, beetles, stick insects, weta and other insects. They are even known to eat mice and small birds such as a silvereye.

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A kingfisher on the hunt has a routine. Learning that routine makes it easier to predict what the bird will do next and allow you to capture the moments you are after.

A kingfisher will maintain a high perch looking down around it waiting for some prey to appear below. It changes angle with short, sharp movements and holds its gaze. At this stage, it often rocks its head back and forth in the line of its beak or opens and stretches its beak. Then comes spotting the prey. At this point they may lean forward, waiting for the perfect moment to launch into their dive. Or, they may go straight into the dive.

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They dive down, stretched out going directly for their prey and grab it between their beak. They quickly return to a high perch – most often the one from which they just alighted.

They then proceed to eat their catch. Slightly larger prey such as fish, crabs and skinks will be bashed against a rock or a branch to soften them up and stop them flapping around making them easier to swallow. To do this they twist their head sharply to one side and snap their neck pounding the side of their beak against the rock or branch. They then swallow whatever they caught whole, head first if possible. Any shell, bones, or indigestible parts are brought back up as a pellet much later.

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Once its catch is safely inside it needs to dry itself out. Depending on how wet it is, it will shake itself dry before fluffing up its feathers to let them air. It cannot hunt again until its feathers have dried somewhat otherwise they can drown. So now is the time to wait patiently until it again searches for food.

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Shooting a kingfisher during its dive is incredibly difficult as the whole sequence of dive, catch and return may only take two or three seconds. There is a wonderful article by Geoff Moon that goes into detail about his early attempts at shooting sacred kingfishers at the moment of entry to the water. Having only recently had the opportunity of photographing kingfishers as the British kingfisher is much more elusive I have yet to capture this moment although I have gained some tips which should help you out which I will share in my next post.

For more photos see my sacred kingfisher gallery

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