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On the Wing: Our ‘Genius of Wooded Shores’

Thu, 02/17/2022 - 12:00

All winter long, the kingfisher says, ‘I’m here!’

A large blue crest and dagger-like bill make the belted kingfisher stand out.
Jay Rand

Belted kingfishers have blue mohawks and rattle like New Year’s Eve noisemakers. The poet Mary Oliver wrote a poem about them. Their call, she said, is a “rough and easy cry I couldn’t rouse out of my thoughtful body if my life depended on it.” Often, the call alerts me to their presence. Wild, harsh, and without a hint of melody or beauty, it’s a celebratory announcement. I’m here!

Lucky us, if the ponds remain unfrozen, they’re fairly common around the East End during the winter months. As I like to say, you could go see one today!

Their unique look warrants a bit of description. Their back and wings are a bit bluer than bluestone; their bellies are white. They have thick, dagger-like bills and large, black eyes. Their heads, perhaps because of the mohawk, or maybe because they’re set off by a thick white collar, look too big for their bodies. Their tails are square and jut out at an angle. In flight, they show noticeable white wing patches.

In the bird world, normally it’s the guys who dress up for the women, but kingfishers, iconoclasts that they are, reverse this. A female kingfisher looks like a male wearing a rust-colored vest.

They have flashy personalities and act like they’re the boss of whatever body of water they’re patrolling. They circumnavigate a pond with great importance, flying with hard, clipped, bold downstrokes. They hunt between favorite perches to which they return, time and again, to scout.

Matt Kracht, in his hard-to-recommend book, “The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America,” says the kingfisher “eats fish and small amphibians by flying face-first into the water.” While technically true, most field guides would point out that kingfishers hunt with their bills and not their faces. That said, allaboutbirds.org claims that belted kingfishers dive with their eyes closed.

Dumb? I don’t know. They are excellent at catching fish.

The coolest thing is to watch a kingfisher hover-hunt. They look like oversize and oddly proportioned hummingbirds searching the waters below. Because their wings are so large, you can actually see them pump back and forth as they hold still in the air before plunging into the water. After a catch, with no ceremony, the kingfisher “pounds the prey against the perch before swallowing it head first.”

These birds aren’t incredibly challenging to find. They don’t hide well, usually choosing a very conspicuous perch from which to hunt. They are almost always alone, but widespread in our area in the correct habitat. I have seen them at many local ponds and water bodies. Hook Pond in East Hampton, Sag Harbor Cove, Kellis Pond in Bridgehampton, Mecox Inlet, Sagg Pond, Big Reed Pond in Montauk . . . you get the idea. If you want to see one, go find some water and start looking.

Their method of nesting is surprising. They nest in cavities, but not in trees. Instead, they excavate a tunnel in the bank of a pond that can be up to eight feet long. At the end is their unadorned nesting burrow. The tunnel usually angles upward, perhaps so water can’t enter. Despite their hidden nests, they are sensitive to disturbance. They lay eggs during the month of May. If you find yourself hiking around a pond this spring, think of the subterranean kingfishers and tread lightly.

Of course, this being America, people used to shoot kingfishers. Frank Chapman, in his 1901 book, “Bird Life,” wrote, “The Kingfisher is generally branded a fish thief and accounted a fair mark for every man with a gun, and, were it not for his discretion in judging distances and knowing just when to fly, he would long ago have disappeared from the haunts of man. We might now be a few fish richer, but would they repay us for the loss of this genius of wooded shores?”

Now, we no longer worry about them getting shot, but habitat destruction is an issue for kingfishers, as it is for most birds. Bulkheads driven into steep pond banks, like the one in Town Pond, may reduce nesting sites for the birds. Bob Hoguet, while paddling in Georgica Pond this past autumn, came upon a kingfisher that had flown into a deer fence that extended well into the pond. He says the bird was “struggling hard in the fence” to get free, but ultimately succumbed.

Remember, the actions you take in your backyard, whether placing a fence, cutting down a tree, or lighting your trees up at night, have consequences for local birds. Everything is habitat.

But let’s not end on a downer. I have mentioned before how birds can be transporting. The kingfisher certainly is, with its exotic look and depths-of-wilderness call. As a family, kingfishers are based somewhere in Southeast Asia, so we’re lucky to have any at all. It’s winter here, but watching this bird, separated from its Southeast Asian cousins by half a world, might be enough to take you to Bali for a few minutes.

Local Sightings

First, please create a (free) eBird account at ebird.org and participate in the 25th anniversary of the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. Details are at birdcount.org. See something cool? Email me at [email protected].

On Feb. 8, Paul Gartside and Barbara Burnside came upon four horned larks on the beach at Louse Point. Sometimes these birds can show up in huge flocks in the winter on our (remaining) agricultural fields, especially when there’s heavy snow up north.

Fred Duchac sent a photograph of a bald eagle sitting on the ice at Fort Pond in Montauk. There were three in total, he said. We’re only about a month away from the return of the ospreys. Look for the territorial battles that will ensue between these two rivals in late March.

Now that the ice is beginning to recede on our ponds, and hunting season has ended, expect to see more waterfowl. A couple of northern pintail, beautiful ducks, made an appearance at Sagg Pond this week.


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