Sad to say, this is my very best photo of a kingfisher by the canal. Unusually, it sat in full sight and watched us pass slowly by. More often, they go deep into the tree or bush to hide, or fly away to another such perch further ahead. They dart very fast and low over the water; a flash of amazing colours and great beauty. We've rarely seen more than one at a time.
When they're not hiding from humans, they're likely to be sitting on the lowest branches next to the water, from which they dive to catch fish or insects. They start breeding in their first year. Come mating and egg-laying time, they build a nest in a hollow in the bank of a canal or river. They work together to dig out the burrow, choosing a vertical bank clear of vegetation, which provides a good degree of protection from predators.
Two or three broods are raised in quick succession. The first clutch of six or seven eggs is laid late in March or early April. Both adults incubate the eggs, and the chicks hatch about nineteen days later. Each chick can eat twelve or so small fish a day, and they're fed in rotation; once a chick is fed, it moves to the back of the nest to digest its meal, and the others move forward.They're ready to leave the nest when they're about twenty-four days old. Once they leave, they're only fed for four days before the adults drive them out, away from their territory, and start the next brood.
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