Even the East German judge had to give Mom Belted Kingfisher a perfect “10” for her takeoff from the nest hole! Until this morning I never knew that kingfishers often fall out of their nest holes backwards and upside down after feeding their young.

While birding near Lake Vermilion this morning (thanks once again to Vermilion Dam Lodge) I noticed some chicks making themselves known at the nest hole opening. The end result is the nest hole is really full of small birds which leaves very little room for mom or dad kingfisher when they land to deliver a meal. Apparently the practical result of a hole being full of kingfisher chicks is that there is very little room, if not any, for the parent birds to turn around when taking off to leave. Look closely at the first “takeoff” photograph of mom and you will see she is upside down facing the wrong way. Within a micro second this problem is alleviated and she is in proper flight mode. The total elapsed time for this sequence of images is only a few seconds. Thankfully, I had noticed that mom kingfisher had landed on a nearby boulder, and when she took off in the direction of the nest, I pressed the shutter down (and kept it down). My camera was already pointed and focused on the nest hole area.

Belted Kingfisher Approaching (overall scene)

Mom Kingfisher Approaching (close-ups)

Feeding Chicks

Mom Kingfisher Exiting / Takeoff