These past few months of near drought-like conditions have changed the amount of water in the river that flows along-side my bird walking route. Normally it flows swiftly, rushing on its merry way, bank high. Now, the lack of rain has brought changes in the topography. At the curves and bends of the river, sand and gravel bars are uncovered. Elsewhere along the banks, shallow pools leave exposed rocks, more evidence of the low volume of water. This has changed the habitat enough that today I had a chance to practice some up-close bird identification, of a different nature.

Belted Kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) are fairly common along the river. I do not see them everyday, but always their loud rattling calls alert me to their presence. It’s rare a week passes that someone walking the river trail, a non birder usually, does not ask me if the racket they are hearing is coming from a bird. What a great opportunity for me to give a bird identification lesson, and how I love introducing a bird to a person.

While folks who are not familiar with the kingfisher think his call is a racket, for some reason I really like the dry, raucous calls. The rattles seem to proclaim they are going about their business with a wild abandon, and that appeals to me. The calls ring out for long seconds, and ordinarily leaves me playing “find the kingfisher” by sound. But today the Belted Kingfishers were easily viewed as they took advantage of the low water to perch on stubs of long-submerged trees. These stubs and snags are not available to them when the current runs high.

It was delightful to watch the kingfishers perching in quiet vigil. The sunlight gave a vivid hue to their slate-blue breast band and punk-looking, jagged head feathers. Both male and female birds were present, often vying for the same perch. The quiet was frequently broken by some raspy rattles of complaint when one bird could not convince another to move on. Despite the competition, food was apparently plentiful. I watched kingfisher after kingfisher plunge in head first and make a yummy catch. They have some seriously wicked bills and it was fun to watch them use their sharp spears on the unwary prey.

In addition to the kingfishers, there were an unusual number of Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) along the river walk. Great Blue Herons are easy birds to identify and are often seen along a river or creek, or fishing a pond or lake.

Many days I see one or two Great Blue Herons along the river, but apparently the low water level was very inviting, because today there were over a dozen fishing the shallows. Herons are wading birds, as their long, long legs attest. A heron neck is long, agile and flexible. That along with an extremely lengthy bill equips the heron quite well for feeding in shallow waters. I watched as they eagerly claimed their share of goodies.

Herons have entirely different feeding maneuvers than do kingfishers. They stalk around in the water at a snail’s pace, slowly lifting one leg, cautiously putting it down, and then ever so gradually lifting the other leg. It is a study in slow-motion. Once prey is spotted, they stand like a statue, sometimes for several minutes, before thrusting their long bayonet-like bill into the water to skewer a fish. After spearing the fish they must get it positioned for swallowing. If the fish is large it may take them several tries, tossing it in the air and catching it to get it right. I’ve witnessed this juggling act lot of times, and always find their antics humorous.

It amazes me to realize that even when nature does not give us satisfactory amounts of sunshine or rainfall birds are quite capable of adapting to a changing habitat. Is there a lesson here for us? Good Birding.

Cheeps & Chirps!

Marjie Gemmell