Male Belted Kingfisher rattling – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1250, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Birds have wings and at times they wander out of their natural ranges. That is a fact. I myself have found birds that that have been a bit to a lot out of their normal ranges on more than one occasion. I’m always excited when I find a bird well out of its range.
I’ve been following an amazing sighting of a male Belted Kingfisher in Lancashire, UK for about a week now, it is only the 4th such sighting for that country. It was found on November 15th at the Brockholes nature reserve in Preston.
Belted Kingfishers are found throughout North, Central, and the very northernmost parts of South America. They are short to long distance migrants depending on their breeding range and the availability of open water. Here in Utah I see them all year round but in the winter I see them less often and that is probably because it gets cold enough here to ice over some of the ponds I visit in the field. The male Belted Kingfisher in the photo above was photographed in the Wasatch Mountains east of where I live in Salt Lake City.
It does boggle my mind when I think about the journey that the Belted Kingfisher in the UK had to make to arrive there. From St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, an easternmost point of North America, to Lancashire, UK it is 2,184 miles as a crow flies and most of that is over the Atlantic Ocean. I suppose the Belted Kingfisher could have stopped off at Greenland and Iceland on its way to the UK but that would have meant the kingfisher veered way to the north. At any rate, the Belted Kingfisher had to fly an extremely long way without stopping. Perhaps it stopped over in Ireland or Scotland and simply wasn’t seen there.
I found a write up by the man who found the Belted Kingfisher in the UK. In case you’d like to read what he wrote about finding this rarity it can be seen here.
I chuckled when I read this part:
I then suddenly had that gut wrenching feeling “I need a picture or at least someone else here to confirm I wasn’t actually going insane”
I know how the man must have felt because I’ve felt that way myself at times. What a fantastic find.
There is also an article about the Belted Kingfisher in the UK in the Daily Mail. The person who wrote the article obviously didn’t look up the range maps for Belted Kingfishers or they wouldn’t have written “It is normally a native of Florida” but perhaps the reporter was as excited about this find as the birders in the UK are. This article has a photo of the Belted Kingfisher perched above a smaller, native Common Kingfisher.
The Belted Kingfisher will find plenty of fish to eat in the UK. I wonder though if it will try to fly back to North America when spring arrives. Who knows what will happen with this kingfisher when the weather warms up across the pond.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Belted Kingfisher photos plus facts and information about this species.
Wow! I think he should have made that left turn at Albuquerque. 😉
How amazing. I am always awed at the incredible distances birds can traverse. Often such small birds too…
Yes, birds do get out of their range. Here in Niagara Falls, Canada we have a Black-bellied Whistling Duck who arrived in August and is still here at Dufferin Islands Nature Area. I have no idea if it is a male or female but I have named it Wheezy. For the call it makes. As of this minute snow is falling heavily. Poor thing.