{"id":91937,"date":"2021-07-09T05:14:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T11:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=91937"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:48:48","slug":"immature-and-adult-male-belted-kingfisher-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/09\/immature-and-adult-male-belted-kingfisher-images\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature And Adult Male Belted Kingfisher Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CalmCalm immature Belted Kingfisher \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I was delighted to have both an immature and an adult male Belted Kingfisher in my viewfinder as I sat next to a creek in the mountains. The young Belted Kingfisher was perched on a low branch next to a willow thicket. I believe it may have been waiting for an adult to bring it some food rather than looking for prey itself because the water was very shallow below it.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Belted Kingfisher calling \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

But I have seen immature Belted Kingfishers diving for prey on their own already this year so perhaps this young bird was simply taking a break.<\/p>\n

\"ExcitedExcited adult male Belted Kingfisher \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When the adult male Belted Kingfisher flew in he wasn’t getting a break. As soon as he landed the Barn and possibly Cliff Swallows were dive bombing him. The male kingfisher was so close that when he lifted his wings in defense from the swallows more than what is shown in the photo above I clipped them.<\/p>\n

If I had been using my Nikon D810 in full frame mode I wouldn’t have clipped the wings or if my 1.4x teleconverter had been removed from I wouldn’t have had the clipping problem. I also know that parking a bit farther forward would have helped too because there would have been more space between the bird and my camera.\u00a0 I had quite a few images that had to be tossed into my delete bin.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Belted Kingfisher settling down \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Kingfishers are primarily fish eaters but they do occasionally feed on insects, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and young birds so perhaps that is why the swallows dive bomb the kingfishers because they do have have chicks in the nest and possibly fledglings on the move right now. It is interesting to see the smaller swallows acting so aggressively towards the larger kingfishers.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Belted Kingfisher being defensive \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The creek where these kingfishers hunt for food has dried up even more than it was just last week. The kingfisher family may have to move on and find deeper water in order to locate and capture fish. I’m happy that I had these two Belted Kingfishers<\/span><\/a> to focus on.<\/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 was delighted to have both an immature and an adult male Belted Kingfisher in my viewfinder as I sat next to a creek in the mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168471,"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":[4004,10264,2432,4897,4072,2061,3940,822,10013,4067,4934,4933,4062,3008,4069,4104,9626,4740,2315,4193],"class_list":["post-91937","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-alpine-creek","tag-belted-kingfisher","tag-branch","tag-calling","tag-calm","tag-canyon","tag-defensive","tag-excited","tag-immature","tag-kingfisher","tag-kingfishers","tag-male","tag-megaceryle-alcyon","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-settling","tag-summer-3","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/beleted-kingfisher-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-0494.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-nUR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92477,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/23\/immature-belted-kingfisher-with-a-spider-web\/","url_meta":{"origin":91937,"position":0},"title":"Immature Belted Kingfisher With A Spider Web","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"What I missed seeing was that the immature Belted Kingfisher had spider webs stuck to its face in a long series of photos that I took of it next to a creek 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":"Immature Belted Kingfisher and a spider web close up, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/belted-kingfisher-immature-spider-web-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/belted-kingfisher-immature-spider-web-mia-mcpherson-0364.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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, 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