Do I ever get tired of taking Little Kingfisher pictures? No. No. No. No. No.

 

And big 'Hi!' to rare faithful follower, Teo. 

Little Kingfisher featuring in previous post finally stopped teasing me and sat still at roadside culvert pool in Town Common, Townsville, today. 

Luck continued later on with Rufous Fantail presenting out in the open - best posing I've had from the species in about 15 years.

Rainbow Bee-eater rounded out happy morning.

Little Kingfisher dives into spirit of isolation

Isolated myself at little wetlands next door this morning and was rewarded with Little Kingfisher diving into the spirit of things.

Little spot with little-seen Little Kingfisher

Found a quiet little spot to spend a little time lately with little-seen local Little Kingfisher. Seems to lack a partner, so all pictures presumed to be same bird.

Sharing the kingfisher's fishing hole, Striated Heron, one of a pair in the same Three Mile Creek, Townsville, mangroves.

And a Shining Flycatcher female, also possibly without partner, though this bird shows up infrequently and males generally keep more to the shadows.

Little good big but good Little comes of long lensing

Walked into Tyto yesterday jauntily carrying light 300mm lens and looking forever upward, seeking uncommon raptor seen lately at tantalising distance - and found only Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) almost beneath my feet. Wrong lens for wrong bird. Today, slogged in with 600mm lens and hefty tripod and got reverse result - no LK and high overhead Square-tailed Kite. on  which the 600 too slow to focus given need to hand-hold.

Not all lost. Did get seven extra species to go with yesterday's 70. And no walk in Tyto is ever anything less than balm for senses and soul. And it's all an excuse to run series of Little Kingfisher shots from corner of Palm Creek at Mungalla Station.

And boring stuff too. Above shots are with 600 on tripod about 20 metres from bird. Can't get closer because of intervening creek (and possible crocs).

But adding a 1.4x converters turns 600 into 840mm lens. And that makes quite a difference, does it not? Feather detail counts.

And another thing: Notice the well camouflaged camera. Stand still long enough and birds will often accept the intrusion as more natural than someone all camo'd up. Talking to them in normal voice can help. Do not whisper!

Seek a Little and ye shall rest Azured

Seek and ye shall find. Doesn't often work perfectly for me. But today ventured to bottom southwest corner of Mungalla Station, planted myself beside known kingfisher habitat only lately accessible as surface water disappears, and got lucky twice over in two hours.

Azure Kingfisher (Ceyx azureus) harder to find this year because late Wet season failed to provide the conditions small fish want (they swim into flooded grasslands). Not this year. So the true fishing kingfisher, Little and Azure appear to be much dispersed and missing from some normally reliable sites.

This morning, Sacred Kingfishers stood out for first hour, hawking for insects above water weeds.

Then, Azure turned up, well away downstream to the west. No luck, thought I. With which, bird (only one sighted at this point) flew toward me and plonked down on falled branch low over water. Ten metres closer would have been perfect, but can't complain at result.

Then Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) whizzed upstream and vanished. Don't be greedy, said I to self. Lo, bird sped back and took up the prime perch. Drawback? Species so small, really needed it more than 10m closer.

And got Little Bronze-Cuckoo ...

...and Brown-backed Honeyeater as interesting extras. Extra bonus: the many mozzies were mostly well behaved.

Chestnuts go for green slime, others want meat and fish

Taking a spell from slurping up green slime, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax) casts an eye down for more of its favoured food in Tyto. Other mannikins and finches locally don't show similar tastes.

No green vege stuff for Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea). Meat, that's what real water birds want. Plenty of lively small prey on and below the pesty water hyacinth at Mungalla Station today.

In trees above the Jacana's waterhole, Little Black Cormorants (Halacrocorax sulcirostris) jostle for position as they wait for me to quit the scene and let them get back to chasing fish. Talk about the Black Death!

And for fish, here's the blue and white death: Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) at Tyto this week. Not a reliable visitor so far this year, and a bit blurred about the belly because of pesky blady grass.

Kingfishers bring splashes of colour

Splash of colour at Mungalla Station as Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) dries off after diving into morning ablutions.

Same perch, hungrier eye looks for breakfast.

At Tyto, Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) lights up wooden  handrail.

And Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) shines in sun

and cloud on favourite creek possie.

Little Kingfisher looks good in blue

Nice blue sky above and nice blue Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) under the trees beside the Osprey nest tree pool in Tyto Wetlands today. The little fish probably tasted pretty nice too.

Bit of technical interest. Top image shot with 1.4x converter attached to 400mm lens. Result? Smaller crop, but some loss of image quality compared to above image, shot without converter and consequently needing bigger crop. Both images have background denoised, steel eye fixed, colour adjusted and some minor background cloning. 

Mangrove residents resist perfect collar

Not the prime target of recent treks along the Lucinda sandspit, Mangrove Honeyeater (Lichenostomus fasciogularis) stands as sole partial success.

Resident pair of Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) stubbornly resist all entreaties to sit still within camera shot. And drizzle and brisk breeze didn't help today's effort above.

Better tidiings lately from Tyto, with Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) returning to fish off the lotus heads ...

... and one Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) allowing a closer approach.
Click pix to enlarge   

And then the drizzle turned to rain ...

Getting along happily and snappily with Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) in Tyto the other day until the odd spot became persistent drizzle. Which became persistent rain. Which continues ... so, two sunnier shots to ease the gloom:

Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) steps out colourfully on the dunes at Lucinda.

And Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) pauses from prodding into the Tyto mud (by now well under water again).
Click pix to enlarge