{"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_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":[500,27,1731,26,773],"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":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-with-fish-mia-mcpherson-7156.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-mSI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/04\/adult-male-belted-kingfisher-with-his-freshly-caught-fish\/","url_meta":{"origin":87960,"position":0},"title":"Adult Male Belted Kingfisher With His Freshly Caught 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-with-fish-mia-mcpherson-4265.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-with-fish-mia-mcpherson-4265.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89925,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/05\/male-belted-kingfisher-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":87960,"position":1},"title":"Male Belted Kingfisher Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing four male Belted Kingfisher photos that I have taken this spring in the Wasatch Mountains starting with one that I took yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Belted Kingfisher male in front of yellow wildflowers, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2232.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-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2232.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2232.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/beleted-kingfisher-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-0494.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/beleted-kingfisher-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-0494.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/beleted-kingfisher-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-0494.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/beleted-kingfisher-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-0494.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87271,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/10\/male-belted-kingfisher-and-pussy-willows\/","url_meta":{"origin":87960,"position":3},"title":"Male Belted Kingfisher And Pussy Willows","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday morning I was delighted when a male Belted Kingfisher flew in and perched in front of pussy willow catkins high in the Wasatch Mountains.","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 in front of pussy willows, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/belted-kingfisher-male-pussywillows-mia-mcpherson-5450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/belted-kingfisher-male-pussywillows-mia-mcpherson-5450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/belted-kingfisher-male-pussywillows-mia-mcpherson-5450.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/belted-kingfisher-male-pussywillows-mia-mcpherson-5450.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69002,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/25\/focusing-on-belted-kingfishers-high-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":87960,"position":4},"title":"Focusing On Belted Kingfishers High In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent yesterday morning high up in the Wasatch Mountains where part of the time I focused on photographing the Belted Kingfishers that I found in two counties.","rel":"","context":"In "Belted Kingfishers"","block_context":{"text":"Belted Kingfishers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/kingfishers\/belted-kingfishers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Belted Kingfisher male in flight, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-6607.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-6607.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-6607.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/belted-kingfisher-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-6607.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75342,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/15\/adult-male-belted-kingfisher-close-up-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":87960,"position":5},"title":"Adult Male Belted Kingfisher Close Up With Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was looking through images I had taken this summer and decided to share a close up of a male Belted Kingfisher with prey that I photographed in the Wasatch Mountains this summer.","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 close up with prey, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, 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