{"id":20405,"date":"2026-08-09T06:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?p=20405"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T04:15:19","slug":"little-details-yield-clues-sacred-kingfisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/20405","title":{"rendered":"Little Details Yield Clues – Sacred Kingfisher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher sitting with crab held in it’s bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I have a soft spot for kingfishers as they fuse my fascination with birds and fishing. Estuarine and coastal walks thus become kingfisher spotting missions. Their foraging habits change with the seasons and winter is a prime time for them to search mudflats for crabs. They hunt from favoured perches but are wary and often won’t tolerate a close approach. A month ago on a journey back from Northland we stopped for a recharge (coffee and car) and went for a walk along the edge of the Whangarei harbour. I spotted a young K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher sitting on a rock with a crab held in its bill. Usually captured crabs are quickly knocked into submission and swallowed so it was unusual to see this bird just sitting looking a bit seedy. It had’t flushed as one usually would as we walked past so I stopped and took out my camera to observe. It remained even when an inquisitive and rather loud primary school child on break came up to ask me what I was doing. After 10-15 minutes the bird ejected a pellet of crushed crab shell while keeping control of his crab and then swallowed the crab and resumed hunting. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher ejecting a pellet while maintaining control over a captured crab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nothing in the sequence allowed for anything more than a record of what had happened but it was behaviour I didn’t recall seeing before so I stored it away for future reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a return trip to Northland I had the opportunity to watch and photograph kingfishers for a while in some decent light. They behaved as normal, regularly flying down , snatching crabs, subduing and then swallowing them. When I saw one stop on a rock just holding a crab I suspected what was likely to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher in better light just sitting with a captured crab in it’s bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By patiently waiting and watching I managed to get a sequence of the pellet regurgitation. Unfortunately this kingfisher had to drop his crab in the process of getting up a huge pellet to make room for more. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher beginning to bring up a pellet of crushed crab carapace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher losing his crab lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher ejecting a pellet of crushed crab carapace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher ejecting a pellet of crushed crab carapace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This gave an opportunity as he flew down to retrieve it before promptly swallowing it and continuing his foraging. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher flying down to retrieve his lost lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"K\u014dtare\/Sacred<\/a>
K\u014dtare\/Sacred kingfisher resuming normal service with rapid dispatch of recovered crab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My main pleasure is being out in nature observing the world. Photography, for me, is a reason to be intentionally focussed on the details with purpose to create memories of those occasions. Seeing the details of behaviour and understanding what is happening gives me joy. Noticing behaviours that I can then use to predict and anticipate what a wild bird will do to plan an image can be very satisfying. It’s amazing what you can see by just looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S + 1.4x teleconverter (1120mm f9 equivalent)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a soft spot for kingfishers as they fuse my fascination with birds and fishing. Estuarine and coastal walks thus become kingfisher spotting missions. Their foraging habits change with the seasons and winter is a prime time for them to search mudflats for crabs. They hunt from favoured perches but are wary and often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Little Details Yield Clues - Sacred Kingfisher. It's amazing what you can see by just looking. 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They are generally quite wary and being small and difficult to approach closely are difficult to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Kingfisher_DSC8950-web-2.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Kingfisher_DSC8950-web-2.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Kingfisher_DSC8950-web-2.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Kingfisher_DSC8950-web-2.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1460,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/1460","url_meta":{"origin":20405,"position":1},"title":"Kingfishers","author":"tony","date":"July 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Kingfishers are among my favourite birds as they combine my two interests of birds and fishing into one colourful package. In New Zealand we have only one species, the Sacred Kingfisher, which is also present in Australia. They can be challenging to photograph well as they are \u00a0very observant, hunt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "biology"","block_context":{"text":"biology","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/biology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/KingfisherCrab_D807770-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/KingfisherCrab_D807770-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/KingfisherCrab_D807770-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/KingfisherCrab_D807770-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10459,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/10459","url_meta":{"origin":20405,"position":2},"title":"Little Waihi Kingfishers","author":"tony","date":"September 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Kingfisher returning to his hunting perch with a juvenile Flounder. After my recent posts featuring Kingfishers from Tawharanui and Whangateau, I thought I would share a more local venue that I like to visit for Kingfishers in the winter. Little Waihi is a relatively short trip from home and is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Kingfisher-D85_7485-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Kingfisher-D85_7485-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Kingfisher-D85_7485-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Kingfisher-D85_7485-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10294,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/10294","url_meta":{"origin":20405,"position":3},"title":"Tawharanui Kingfisher","author":"tony","date":"August 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Kingfisher launching from flax perch A bonus from our trip to Tawharanui was the opportunity to photograph Kingfishers as well as the Brown Teal\/Pateke. New Zealand has one native kingfisher, the Sacred Kingfisher\/Kotare (Todiramphus sanctus), which also occurs in Australia, New Caledonia, Loyalty, Kermadec, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D5C_8727-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D5C_8727-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D5C_8727-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D5C_8727-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16045,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/16045","url_meta":{"origin":20405,"position":4},"title":"Te Puru K\u014dtare","author":"tony","date":"August 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Te Puru K\u014dtare - a lesson in fieldcraft when photographing flighty birds","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo of K\u014dtare\/Sacred Kingfisher","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Kingfisher-20220811-_NZ91781-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Kingfisher-20220811-_NZ91781-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Kingfisher-20220811-_NZ91781-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Kingfisher-20220811-_NZ91781-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10315,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/10315","url_meta":{"origin":20405,"position":5},"title":"Whangateau Kingfishers","author":"tony","date":"August 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Kingfisher\/Kotare Having enjoyed some good opportunities with Kingfishers at Tawharanui we ended our day with Whangateau Kingfishers. If the timing of the tide is suitable there is the opportunity to sit at the edge of the estuary while the Kingfishers hunt the flats for crabs from their perches in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D85_0726-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D85_0726-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D85_0726-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Kingfisher-D85_0726-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20410,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20405\/revisions\/20410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}