African Pygmy Kingfisher.
22nd December 2023
African Pygmy Kingfisher is the smallest kingfisher on the continent, measuring just 12cms in total. It is easy to miss these diminutive birds because they don’t associate with water, they inhabit dry forest edges and light woodland feeding on insects typically, therefore they can be found almost anywhere. They do, however, come to water to bathe and drink and that is when you can see them. They have a quiet ‘Vsst’ call and that is what gives their presence away.
Photographing them is far from easy though, you have to wait until they dive into water, which is so quick you can barely detect it, it’s in and out in a split second. Then you have to try and see what branch they have perched on, it’s usually the one they have dived from but that’s not much help if you haven’t seen them in the first place.
The people who own the lodges we stay in have a one acre private walled garden about a hundred yards away down the track, within which they have planted endangered native trees and also therein is a well where one of the gardeners, a lovely guy named Alfa, draws water and fills up a small pond daily. He also fills up the numerous pots around the garden, encouraging birds to come and drink in the afternoon on a hot day.
When time allows we visit there in the late afternoon to see what’s coming in to drink and bathe. There are three palm covered seating areas with cushions where you can sit quietly. It’s a lovely peaceful place and we have seen an impressive panoply of bird species on our visits.
We were sat there one afternoon and something splashed into the pond in front of us and it was so quick we couldn’t identify what it was. We kept watching and it happened again and this time I managed to follow the ‘blur’ back into a small tree about ten feet away. We could now see it was a Pygmy Kingfisher and then we could hear the distinctive little call.
This happened three or four times and finally I was able to photograph an adult male bird out in the open. I had to use a little diffused flash because it was very dark under the tree it was perched in.
What a gorgeous little jewel he was!
Photographing them is far from easy though, you have to wait until they dive into water, which is so quick you can barely detect it, it’s in and out in a split second. Then you have to try and see what branch they have perched on, it’s usually the one they have dived from but that’s not much help if you haven’t seen them in the first place.
The people who own the lodges we stay in have a one acre private walled garden about a hundred yards away down the track, within which they have planted endangered native trees and also therein is a well where one of the gardeners, a lovely guy named Alfa, draws water and fills up a small pond daily. He also fills up the numerous pots around the garden, encouraging birds to come and drink in the afternoon on a hot day.
When time allows we visit there in the late afternoon to see what’s coming in to drink and bathe. There are three palm covered seating areas with cushions where you can sit quietly. It’s a lovely peaceful place and we have seen an impressive panoply of bird species on our visits.
We were sat there one afternoon and something splashed into the pond in front of us and it was so quick we couldn’t identify what it was. We kept watching and it happened again and this time I managed to follow the ‘blur’ back into a small tree about ten feet away. We could now see it was a Pygmy Kingfisher and then we could hear the distinctive little call.
This happened three or four times and finally I was able to photograph an adult male bird out in the open. I had to use a little diffused flash because it was very dark under the tree it was perched in.
What a gorgeous little jewel he was!