Cooks River Kingfishers – 23 July 2021

Day 27 of lockdown. I went down to the Cooks River for an exercise bike ride, intending to go as far as Barton Park, but I got distracted all the way by Sacred Kingfishers. My first encounter was on the cycleway just downstream from the Illawarra Road crossing where I spotted three Sacred Kingfishers. Then further downstream after crossing the Cooks River at the Princess Highway, I spotted another Sacred Kingfisher at Cahill Park. It was in a relatively open place, good for photography. By he time I had finished there, it was time to ride home.

This day is unusual in that all my photo are of Sacred Kingfishers. Not far downstream of Illawarra Road was where I spotted the first one. It was perched in a Casuarina.

I watched it for a while, and took a few photos, then spotted second one –

I went back the first one as it had now caught a crab.

Back to the second one –

And the first one –

Then the second one flew downstream into the mangroves –

But when I went back upstream, there were two perched fairly close –

One of these was a new one. Not the one in the mangroves downstream.  I watched as one coughed up a pellet.

Then one flew off and caught a crab, but it must have perched too close to a Noisy Miner. The Noisy Miner harassed the Kingfisher and it flew downstream at speed.

The second of these Sacred Kingfishers was also harassed by the Noisy Miner, but this one just sat there and ignored it.

It then decided to fly downstream.

I too got back on my bike and continued riding down the river. I looked for more birds at Gough Whitlam Park and at Waterworth Park with no luck, then crossed the river to Tempe Station and along to The Princess Highway. After crossing get river again, I cycled along the foreshore at Cahill Park. I often stop at the outlet of small creek to see what birds are about. And that was when I spotted another Sacred Kingfisher. It was perched on a branch near he foreshore.

I stopped and watched it for awhile. It was just sitting there, not looking around for crabs. This seems to be sign that it is about to cough up something. Sure enough, shortly after a pellet was regurgitated.

Now, the bird was ready for more crabs. Within 30 minutes it had caught and eaten seven mud crabs.

It flies off with the crab to abetter perch to eat it.

It is now looking for more crabs.

It moves to a higher perch.

It looks in all directions.

And soon has a second crab.

Now a third crab –

Crab number 4 –

Crab number 5 –

Crab number 6 –

Crab number 7 –

The Kingfisher stayed, but it was time for me to ride home. It had just started raining. The rain was light at first but got quite heavy riding through Gough Whitlam Park, so I didn’t stop to look for any more birds. But I was quite satisfied with my Kingfisher encounters.