My attraction to Kingfishers is for me unexplainable.
The hovering over calm coves and banks with barriers of bayberry, the plunging and darting after Silverside minnows-the solitary bird on a solitary autumn morning, and a solitary naturalist shadowing close behind….
For four years now I have documented these birds-thinking I know their favorite spots. Like the telephone wire perch over the Bicycle Path just as I round the bend of Oyster Pond. Late summer mornings before nine o’ clock is best for viewing here. The entrance to Darbies Cove is where I often hear the bird’s rattle-like voice echoing before evening. Money Pond is where I spied a blue-gray crest (a bit of a mohawk!) silhouetted against pinkish dusk, its heron-like bill nipping in flight, chasing insects A dock nearby to Hooverness houses a" local".
It has been no small feat for me to capture any Belted Kingfisher on camera.Shyness between us is typical.
Perhaps I need to balance persistence with allowing myself to be captivated….
The original and authentic naturalists-native Indians, suggest the Kingfisher is an instructor of remaining grounded and connected to Mother Earth-to remain comfortable in quiet solitude.
These weeks I have been daily looking forward to Harbor seals returning home to Hungry Point. As I balanced precariously on wrack covered rocks, I smiled as I became quietly steady. At long last, King of Fishers, we meet.