There are some creatures you hear about and dream of seeing but never see. Maybe I just didn't know where to look, but I had never seen a kingfisher. Kingfishers are small birds, about the size of a blue jay, but they are fishing birds with disproportionately big heads and long beaks, perfect for catching fish.
I have seen photos of this bird and heard it referenced. I hear they are amazing fishers. They perch or sometimes hover above the water until they spot a fish then dive through the air, into the water to retrieve it. They are master fishers. You would never expect such a thing out of so small a bird, but their beaks give it all away, that they were meant to fish.
I have visited many lakes and watched anhinga's, cormorant, osprey, herons, egrets, and other waterfowl fish. They each have the techniques that work just right for them, but in all these years of seeing these birds, I never saw a kingfisher. There are a variety of different kingfishers, some are black and white, others are bright iridescent blue, but all have the distinctive large head, long beak, and stocky body.
Often when you finally spot something for the first time, it's when you aren't looking for it. We were driving in the car on the way to the bicycle shop to look at bicycles. We've been down the street a dozen times before. It's a moderately busy street, not a highway, and not a backroad or neighborhood street. There is a church along the street positioned at an angle, so the corner is facing the road, which I always thought was interesting. In the back of the church, close to the road is a pond.
I rarely see birds at that little pond. I glanced out the passenger window at the pond as I often do and this time I saw something sitting on top of the wooden stake that stuck out of the middle of the pond. It looked like a small bird, but at first, it wasn't moving, so I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks. Then I saw it turn its head; it was a real bird. And I knew it was one I had never seen before. Immediately I thought it might be a kingfisher because I saw a large head and a long beak.
"What kind of bird is that?" I said out loud to my husband as our car drove past. I turned around in my seat to try to get a second look at it. I could still see it's black feathers. It had a black fuzzy head and a white belly with a black band across its chest. And it had a long black beak.
"I think it's a kingfisher. I've never seen that bird before," I said aloud. I minimized the driving directions on my phone and searched to identify the bird. I searched by type of bird and first searched upright-perching water birds, and those were all cormorants and similar birds. I next searched perching birds and scrolled past cardinals and jays until I saw it, near the end of the list I saw a black banded bird with a long black beak and fuzzy black head. It looked exactly like the bird I saw, and I didn't need to look any further. Under the picture, it read Belted Kingfisher, Mecaceryle alcyon. What I saw was a male.
"It is a kingfisher. I just saw a belted kingfisher on the side of the road back there." I wished I had had the chance to stop, to get a closer look or a photo. But even that little glance was more than I ever expected. Be alert because you never know what you might see and where you might see it. You may have seen birds a thousand times, but there is always something new to see if you just look. I will forever remember the first time I saw a belted kingfisher, and I hope to see many more now that I know what to look for.
