Common kingfisher,カワセミ

This is the third installment of a six-part series of this special edition.

Adult: Mating, feeding nestlings and tragedy

The kingfisher (Common kingfisher) is said to be the most popular in the world and Japan among the birds because of its beauty.

Several decades ago in some countries, the beautiful feathers were used for fly fishing for fishing.

Well, this is the third time this series is mating, feeding to the nestlings, and tragedy.

Normally after mating females lay 5 to 6 eggs, but they hatch in 19-20 days, but it seems that whole egg hatching can not be done.

About 1 month after hatching, they will leave from the nest.

However, the probability of the tragedy in which nestling will become prey for snake attack is not low in this area until the chicks will leaving the nest.

I noticed this in 7--8 years after I started shooting kingfishers, and I have been improving the environment in the nesting place so that the snakes would not enter the burrows and sprayed snake killers, etc. to the nesting places. However, in recent years, I have stopped it as I was got old.

カワセミ(Common kingfisher)はその美しさから小鳥の中では世界でも日本でも最も人気があると言われております。

数十年前はある国ではその美しい羽根が釣用のフライフィシング使われたこともあるそうです。

さて、今回で3回回目のこのシリーズは交尾、雛への給餌、悲劇です。

通常交尾後雌は5-―6個を産卵し、19－20日間で孵化しますが全卵孵化は出来ないようです。

孵化後約1ケ月弱で巣立ちいたします。

ただ、この巣立ちまでの間に当地ではヒナがヘビの餌食になる悲劇の確率は低くはありません。

カワセミを撮り始めてから5―-6年でこのことに気づき例年ヘビが巣穴に入らないよう営巣地を整備したり、ヘビキラーなどを営巣地に散布したりしました。しかし、近年は歳もとりさすがにそれはやめてます。

Judging from the excrement at the entrance of the burrow, the leaving from the nest is near.

巣穴入り口の排泄物から判断すると巣立ちは近い。

 The male parent who held a small fish in his mouth for chicks is looking at the snake entering the nest, with dismay.ぼうぜんとして巣を見ている。

 After the snake entered the burrow, I brought out a shovel from home, broke the burrow, rescued three chicks. And they were raised by the City's Bird Conservation Committee, for a week, and were released near the original burrow.

ヘビが巣穴に入った後自宅からスコップを持ち出し、巣穴を崩し、3羽のヒナを救出しました。そして、市の鳥獣保護委員に1週間育てられ、元の巣穴近くで放鳥されました。

 This young seems to be in the sulks.この子すねているようです。 

 I think this is a parent bird is showing a sample of diving.

Common kingfisher,カワセミ

This is second installment of a six-part series of this feature article.

 Adult: Breeding season :Mmatchmaking and digging a hole for nesting

 Needless to say, the most important thing for animals to live is the acquisition of food.

In the case of kingfishers, according to ADW, they eat small fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects equivalent to 60% of their weight per day. It has a very strong territorial because it must secure a sufficient feeding ground for that. The range is said to be 1 km to 3 km.

Here, in February for breeding, males chase a female every day to determine the breeding partner. And the male starts digging the hole for nesting and the female also cooperates and does. From this time onwards, there is frequent courtship feeding that shows affection to the female until mating.

Moreover, the height of the nest hole from the water surface was 2m,and the nest burrow length I measured in the local was about 80 cm. The end of the burrow was wide sideways.

Average weight of adult bird of kingfisher：34ｇ（quate from ADW）

                                                  Male chases female

                               Mmatchmaking

                              a courtship feeding

                               Trying digging a nest hole 

                               A burrow dug in a shellmound

                                  a stone moroko,one of their prey

                                       an American Crayfish,above the same