{"id":47208,"date":"2017-06-09T05:23:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T11:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47208"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:24:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:24:48","slug":"male-belted-kingfisher-near-the-jordan-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/09\/male-belted-kingfisher-near-the-jordan-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Belted Kingfisher Near The Jordan River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-168382 size-full\" title=\"Male Belted Kingfisher perched on a thin branch, Salt Lake County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361.jpg\" alt=\"Male Belted Kingfisher perched on a thin branch, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Male Belted Kingfisher perched on a thin branch &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I photographed this male Belted Kingfisher last month as it perched on a thin branch at a small pond close to the Jordan River in Salt Lake County, Utah. There was another kingfisher in the area at the time but I was unable to obtain images of it.<\/p>\n<p>The Jordan River has some high, dirt banks in areas that the kingfishers use to dig burrows, lay eggs and rear their young so throughout the year I can see and hear these slate blue birds close to home.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the call of a Belted Kingfisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/132870\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a>. <em>This recording also has the calls of Eastern Phoebes, Song Sparrows and Northern Flickers in it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Belted Kingfishers here in northern Utah will hang around all year as long as they have access to open water so they can fish for their prey.<\/p>\n<p>A few Belted Kingfisher facts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Belted Kingfishers require clear open water and vertical open banks for habitat. They can be found near streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, estuaries and other marine habitat.<\/li>\n<li>Belted Kingfishers primarily eat fish but they also will eat crustaceans such as crayfish, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, small birds and small fruits like berries.<\/li>\n<li>Belted Kingfishers nest in burrows they dig, they lay 5 to 8 eggs which hatch in 22 to 24 days. Both sexes incubate and they are monogamous.<\/li>\n<li>A group of kingfishers can be called a \u201crattle\u201d or \u201ccrown\u201d of kingfishers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/belted-kingfisher-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Belted Kingfisher photos.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I photographed this male Belted Kingfisher last month as it perched on a thin branch at a small pond close to the Jordan River in Salt Lake County, Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168382,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[500,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,2432,4897,5556,4934,4933,4062,3008,10698,4104,1984,8018,17117],"class_list":["post-47208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belted-kingfishers","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-belted-kingfisher","tag-branch","tag-jordan-river","tag-kingfisher","tag-kingfishers","tag-male","tag-megaceryle-alcyon","tag-park","tag-perched","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-winchester-pond-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-mia-mcpherson-5361.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-chq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36257,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/24\/a-female-belted-kingfisher-and-her-rattling-call\/","url_meta":{"origin":47208,"position":0},"title":"Female Belted Kingfisher and Her Rattling Call","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had my first opportunity to photograph a nearby female Belted Kingfisher in Salt Lake County, Utah and I had fun getting to know her.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched female Belted Kingfisher in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-female-mia-mcpherson-3836.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-female-mia-mcpherson-3836.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-female-mia-mcpherson-3836.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-female-mia-mcpherson-3836.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":47208,"position":1},"title":"Queenfisher &#8211; 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 &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/belted-kingfisher-female-farmington-bay-mia-mcpherson-9262.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80303,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/04\/female-belted-kingfisher-march-birds-i-look-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":47208,"position":2},"title":"Female Belted Kingfisher &#8211; March Birds I Look For","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this female Belted Kingfisher calling from a branch in March of 2017 close to the Jordan River not far from where I live.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Belted Kingfisher calling from a branch, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/belted-kingfisher-adult-female-calling-tree-mia-mcpherson-4365.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/belted-kingfisher-adult-female-calling-tree-mia-mcpherson-4365.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/belted-kingfisher-adult-female-calling-tree-mia-mcpherson-4365.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/belted-kingfisher-adult-female-calling-tree-mia-mcpherson-4365.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119907,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/18\/male-belted-kingfisher-in-my-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":47208,"position":3},"title":"Male Belted Kingfisher In My Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing a male Belted Kingfisher photo that I took one year ago today. I was photographing ducks at one of my local ponds when he flew in.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Belted Kingfisher on a sunny January morning, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/belted-kingfisher-male-winter-mia-mcpherson-8514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/belted-kingfisher-male-winter-mia-mcpherson-8514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/belted-kingfisher-male-winter-mia-mcpherson-8514.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/belted-kingfisher-male-winter-mia-mcpherson-8514.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102733,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/28\/spring-male-belted-kingfisher-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":47208,"position":4},"title":"Spring Male Belted Kingfisher Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I took my first of year male Belted Kingfisher portrait photos three days ago high in the Wasatch Mountains when this bird flew in close to me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring male Belted Kingfisher portrait, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/belted-kingfisher-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8772.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/belted-kingfisher-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8772.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/belted-kingfisher-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8772.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/belted-kingfisher-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8772.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":47208,"position":5},"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 &quot;Belted Kingfishers&quot;","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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}