What’s for dinner?

The trick to writing this blog is to always have the camera with you because you never know what you will see or when you will see it. Sometimes it’s a pain to do so. Rarely, careful observation will make the task far more predictable.

A friend of mine has been platypus watching on the warm evenings. When I say platypus watching I mean sitting on the side of the stream waiting to see a platypus. In doing so he noticed that a Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) had built a nest in the river bank and had young because the adults were regularly flying from the nest and coming back with food. Before flying to the nest the adults would sit on a dead branch in the middle of the stream.

Not only does this provide a regular photo opportunity but if you sit there long enough you can see what type of food kingfisher chicks eat. During the day the main fare is lizards, see photo above left (I guess it’s because that’s when lizards are out and about). As dusk settles the adults come back with insects like grasshoppers (pictured above) and flies…big flies (pictured right).

So far despite the bird’s name, no fish for tea. Maybe I’ll have to wait  and watch a little bit longer.