Kingfishers on Lake Neuchâtel

The Bird

The common kingfisher is a sparrow-sized bird with the colours of a tropical one: electric blue back, orange breast, a dagger of a bill. It fishes by dropping from a perch into shallow water, sometimes hovering first, and brings its catch back to beat it against the branch before swallowing it head first.

Pairs hold short stretches of bank and dig nest burrows into earth cliffs. A good year brings two or three broods between April and August, which is when the activity at a perch is at its busiest and the young, duller birds start fishing for themselves.

The Day

We are in the hide before the light is good and we stay through the morning, with a break when the birds take one. The afternoon is for a second session or, if the morning delivered, for the lake’s other residents: grebes, herons, reed warblers and, on a lucky day, a beaver.

The hide is set on a stretch of shore the birds use every day. Perches are placed for the light and the background; the rest is patience.

The Photography

Three pictures to go for: the perched portrait, the dive, and the return with a fish. The portrait is straightforward once the bird settles. The dive is the test: pre-focusing on the water, a fast shutter, a burst, and knowing when the bird is about to go.

A 400mm to 600mm lens is ideal from the hide, though 300mm works at the closer perches. A tripod or beanbag and a fast shutter, 1/3200 s and up, for the splash.

How We Work Around Them

The hide is the point: the birds carry on as if nobody were there. We never go near a nest burrow, we do not use bait fish, and we leave the shore as quietly as we arrived.