When you’ve birded as long as I have, you discover that even a lack of birds can be a good thing because paying attention helps you see things you would have otherwise overlooked. When the eagles didn’t show up at Big Beef Creek as I’d hoped, I noticed a Belted Kingfisher that frequents the area.
I managed to get a pretty good shot of him sitting in the tree that is usually occupied by the Eagles who weren’t there.
Once I spotted him, I managed to follow him out where he speared a fish in the shallow water.
Naturally he didn’t fly back to his previous perch so I could get a good shot of him with the fish on his beak, but this heavily cropped shot definitely shows the fish on his beak.
If I could count on getting good shots of Belted Kingfisher, I’d probably be more apt to go there than go to Big Beef Creek to photograph eagles. A Belted Kingfisher with attitude is one of my favorite birds.