The Kingfisher: A Little Bruiser

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 9:27 am – Posted by Mandy | 5 Comments

Guest blogger: Campaign Manager for the Kingfisher, Stephanie Gray.

If I were to paint our Sacred Kingfisher in caricature, I’d give him a little leather jacket in midnight-blue.

For he is a thug. A stunning little predator. A handsome, hard-headed, supremely successful species that excels at pulverising the small prey he swoops upon.

Skinks, silvereyes and dragon-flies are all flung against fence posts and dashed on river rocks until every bone is broken and they can then be swallowed whole.

The Sacred Kingfisher, Kotare, relishes this regal diet. He is not (surprisingly) not that fussed with fish but will raid your goldfish pond when wild food is scarce. For his appetite, and for love of the kingfishers in my seaside neighbourhood, I nominate the Kotare as Bird of the Year.

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Published in: General
Tags: kingfisher, native bird
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Photo–essay: Hanging out with feathered royalty

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 1:07 pm – Posted by Tom | 3 Comments

Guest blogger: Photographer: Tom Marshall

Its not often you get the chance to hang around with royalty, but for the last few weeks I’ve had just that privilege with the Kingfishers (Kotare) of the Avon-Heathcote estuary near Christchurch.

Most often thought of as a bird of wetlands and coasts, the New Zealand Kingfisher is in fact a member of the ‘tree kingfishers’ family (Halcyonidae) and is just as likely to seen in farmland and forests, often far from water.

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Published in: General, Native land animals
Tags: hunting, kingfisher, prey
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