{"id":43228,"date":"2016-11-23T06:27:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T13:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=43228"},"modified":"2026-02-02T13:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:05:34","slug":"fun-photographing-a-male-belted-kingfisher-at-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/23\/fun-photographing-a-male-belted-kingfisher-at-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Photographing a Male Belted Kingfisher at Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher tossing his prey into the air – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It was sunny and cool yesterday morning and it felt great to get out into the field. I had fun photographing a male Belted Kingfisher at Farmington Bay<\/span><\/a> as he caught prey and ate it on a post near a little creek. Even though I didn’t have the best light on the kingfisher’s face I loved the action in this frame with the fish in the air and the kingfisher’s bill wide open to catch it.<\/p>\n

Not long after this frame was taken the kingfisher lost this fish when it slipped out of his bill and landed on the ground below the post.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher lifting off from a post – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 320, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Belted Kingfisher was actively hunting yesterday and I had several opportunities to photograph it as it left the post and as he landed on it with prey. In this photo I caught the kingfisher at the moment he left the post.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher with tiny fish – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And this image was taken right as the kingfisher landed on the post with another tiny fish in his bill. I like the raised wings, the tipped up tail, the view of the kingfisher’s tiny legs and the fish in his bill.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher landing with prey – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In this next landing pose the kingfisher was getting his balance on the post and then settled in to eat his prey.<\/p>\n

\"BeltedBelted Kingfisher male with a fish in his bill – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I took a 113 image burst with the D500 as the kingfisher lifted off, caught the prey, landed on the post and then consumed the prey and never once felt like I needed to worry about my buffer filling up. I am loving the Nikon D500 for photographing birds!<\/p>\n

\"BeltedBelted Kingfisher male shaking his feathers – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After the kingfisher ate the tiny fish he shook his feathers off before he flew away. I’m glad this male Belted Kingfisher has stuck around Farmington Bay because it has given me more opportunities to photograph him.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Belted Kingfisher photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had fun photographing a male Belted Kingfisher at Farmington Bay as he caught prey and ate it on a post near a little creek. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[500,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[4004,2432,4432,8305,4934,4933,4282,4062,4094,3008,5527,8301,8300,4394,4106,4095,373,8917],"class_list":["post-43228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belted-kingfishers","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-belted-kingfisher","tag-fish","tag-fun","tag-kingfisher","tag-kingfishers","tag-lift-off","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-megaceryle-alcyon","tag-open-water","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-post","tag-prey","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5596.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bfe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43333,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/03\/continuing-male-belted-kingfisher-and-snow-covered-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":43228,"position":0},"title":"Continuing Male Belted Kingfisher and Snow-covered Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph the continuing male Belted Kingfisher with the snow-covered marsh in the background, a few times he even had prey.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Belted Kingfisher with freshly caught prey, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-7795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-7795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-7795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-prey-mia-mcpherson-7795.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48480,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/16\/male-belted-kingfisher-in-winter-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":43228,"position":1},"title":"Male Belted Kingfisher in Winter at Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Belted Kingfishers are year round residents in northern Utah but my best opportunities to photograph them at Farmington Bay WMA are during the winter.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter snow and a male Belted Kingfisher, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/belted-kingfisher-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-8032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/belted-kingfisher-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-8032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/belted-kingfisher-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-8032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/belted-kingfisher-winter-male-mia-mcpherson-8032.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109609,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/14\/low-light-female-belted-kingfisher\/","url_meta":{"origin":43228,"position":2},"title":"Low Light Female Belted Kingfisher","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I found a perched female Belted Kingfisher while I was at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago. This was after the clouds came back in creating low light conditions.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light female Belted Kingfisher on a branch, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/belted-kingfisher-female-cool-mia-mcpherson-8253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/belted-kingfisher-female-cool-mia-mcpherson-8253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/belted-kingfisher-female-cool-mia-mcpherson-8253.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/belted-kingfisher-female-cool-mia-mcpherson-8253.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108672,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/11\/queenfisher-2023-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":43228,"position":3},"title":"Queenfisher – 2023 ABA Bird of the Year","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2023 ABA Bird of the Year was revealed yesterday evening. The bird of the year is the Queenfisher, also known as the female Belted Kingfisher.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Belted Kingfisher on her throne, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/belted-kingfisher-female-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-9262.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/belted-kingfisher-female-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-9262.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/belted-kingfisher-female-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-9262.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Fish","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The male Belted Kingfisher had been perched and without warning dove into the water, caught a fish, returned to his perch, and ate it all within close proximity to where I sat in my Jeep.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Belted Kingfisher male with a small fish, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-with-fish-mia-mcpherson-4265.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-with-fish-mia-mcpherson-4265.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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