{"id":87960,"date":"2021-05-16T05:15:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-16T11:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=87960"},"modified":"2026-02-03T10:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:14:54","slug":"male-belted-kingfisher-with-his-catch-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/16\/male-belted-kingfisher-with-his-catch-of-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Belted Kingfisher With His Catch Of The Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Belted Kingfisher with a small fish \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I watched as a male Belted Kingfisher caught a small fish, landed on a branch and swallowed his catch of the day high in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a>. There are times when kingfishers swallow their catch so quickly that I miss the photos of that action. This wasn’t one of those times. The kingfisher perched with his prey for several seconds in the nice morning light.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher with a fish in his bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The fish, which I believe is a young trout, was still alive and wiggling around while grasped tightly in the bill of the kingfisher. The kingfisher looked around, shook the water out of his feathers, and glanced high into the sky a few times before he got ready to swallow the fish.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Belted Kingfisher swallowing his catch \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

With a quick toss he aligned the fish so that its head was pointed towards his throat and with one gulp he swallowed his catch.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the few moments I had with the male Belted Kingfisher watching him go about the business of his morning.<\/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":"

Three days ago I watched as a male Belted Kingfisher caught a small fish, landed on a branch and swallowed his catch of the day high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[500,27,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,2432,5552,4897,3940,11708,11709,3843,11707,4432,4934,4933,4062,3008,4069,4106,5549,11603],"class_list":["post-87960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belted-kingfishers","category-avian","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-belted-kingfisher","tag-bill","tag-branch","tag-canyon","tag-catch","tag-catch-of-the-day","tag-creek","tag-fingerling","tag-fish","tag-kingfisher","tag-kingfishers","tag-male","tag-megaceryle-alcyon","tag-mountains","tag-prey","tag-swallowing","tag-trout"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t