A to Z Challenge - K is for Kingfisher

Azure Kingfisher

Following my nature theme, today I thought I would write about a bird that has always fascinated me, even though I have never seen one in real life.

I've always thought that kingfisher was an unusual name for a bird and I wondered why they were called that. Perhaps because they eat a lot of fish? Although they do eat other things, like lizards.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

One won't find kingfishers in North America. Some species are tropical, with most of the others living in Europe and Australia. Some of the birds are known as river kingfishers, some as tree kingfishers and some as water kingfishers. They are small to medium sized brightly colored birds, and all have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Like some other birds, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground.

Kingfishers are generally shy birds, staying away from people, but people have always been fascinated by the little birds, possibly because of the bright coloring and some of their behaviors. 

For the Dusun people of Borneo, the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher is considered a bad omen, and warriors that see one on the way to battle should return home. Another Bornean tribe consider the Banded Kingfisher bird of good omens. 

The Sacred Kingfisher, along with other Pacific kingfishers, was venerated by the Polynesians, who believed it had control over the seas and waves.

~~~~~~~~~~
Starting tomorrow for Friday the 13th, a group of 13 mystery authors have banded together to bring some good luck to readers. We are offering our books free for the weekend for the Kindle. My suspense novel, One Small Victory is just one of the books. For a complete list of the books click HERE

Dinner anyone?

The other day when it was really cold -- about 20 degrees, which is really cold for East Texas, a flock of doves found something good to eat out in my yard.

I was working and happened to look out the window and saw the birds. At first I thought there were only a handful, but when I really stopped and watched for a while I saw that there were probably twenty to thirty birds out there. Counting was a challenge since they kept moving around so much. That made it hard to get good pictures, too. That and the fact that I was taking the pictures from inside.

I finally got a few shots and went back to work. Then when I glanced outside again, I saw that the doves were gone and a bunch of sparrows and finches were happily feasting on whatever was left out there. It made me think of ancient dining customs where the important people -- royalty -- ate first, then the rest of the people got the leftovers.

It's always fun to discover the parallels between human and animal behaviors. We are more alike than what we think.

Toning it Down Again

Seems to be a pattern here the last week or so, rant one day, and mellow out a day or so later.

The mellowing is so much better.

Yesterday, my husband noticed this bird standing guard at the nest in the birdhouse. He had seen this bird a number of times fly in and out of the nest and figured there were babies in there.

Sure enough, there are, but even with my telephoto lens -- which I am such a klutz at using I kept losing the birdhouse and would be focusing on our security light pole -- I couldn't get a good shot of the babies. For obvious reasons, I didn't want to get too close.

This morning when I was weeding the flower bed near the birdhouse, I could hear the little peeps. That was so cool. And the guard bird gave me a look that said, "Keep your distance, lady."

The birdhouse is one of several we have around our property, but the only one that is currently occupied. It was a present to my husband, who enjoys the birds a lot, and he has spent quite a bit of time watching this daddy bird tend to his babies.

We're not sure what kind of a bird it is. We think it may be some kind of finch. Do you recognize it?