Malachite Kingfisher

Enonkishu Conservancy, Kenya. February 22. 2019. Strange times.   Looking to fill time constructively this morning, I wondered what bird I’d light on if I were to metaphorically spin the wheel through my photos. So, going to my over-full library, I scrolled down a few pages and then blindly clicked a random image. I landed on this, a Malachite Kingfisher. A very good choice because not only is it a nice-looking bird but I remember it well, the time, the place even the feeling in the air.

It’s from early last year in Kenya, I was on a shady the bank of the Mara River. It was close to noon, the start of the hot midday lull, and I was sitting comfortably, looking for birds, binoculars-and-camera-ready and hoping not to be noticed by the nasty little biting ants whose grassy flat spot I’d chosen.  That’s the Mara River in the background, the same river you’ll see on those videos of stampeding herds of migrating Wildebeests, bounding and plunging across, terrified of the Nile Crocodiles that lie in wait for guaranteed easy pickings.

There was nothing memorable about the arrival of the Malachite Kingfisher, it just showed up on the opposite bank for a spot of fishing (above) and then, thinking better of it crossed to my side and posed clearly in the open. (below) I took several shots, the one above and these two are the best. Bird of the Day in all likelihood.