Feb 20, 2009: Ice Diver

[xoxoxoBruce]

Everybody wants to join the Polar Bear club.



This may be shopped.
I don't know what kind of bird it is, so it could be tropical for all I know.
I just liked the picture.

[Thunder.gryphoN]

The bird is a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). It is widespread across most of Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa.

I am thinking photo manipulation on this one, comparing the size of the bird with the texture of the snow and ice, and the artifacts surrounding the kingfisher.
The bird looks to be a tad too small (The common kingfisher is roughly sparrow-sized), though birds can often seem to vary greatly in size because they can raise or lower their feathers.
Additionally, since the kingfishers rely heavily on fish and other aquatic prey, they need a sizable amount of open water, and I find it unlikely the kingfisher in the photo would have stuck around for a winter like that.

[SPUCK]

Yeah why would he leave his beak open?

[TheMercenary]

Because he is thirsty.

[Sundae]

I don't know - it could be real. Lovely, lovely picture anyway.

Dads used to cycle to work, going over a small humped back bridge over the Grand Union Canal, which comes to a not-so-grand dead end in Aylesbury. Sorry, I mean a basin. Because of his shift patterns he was often there early in the morning, and very often saw kingfishers. He always lamented his lack of skill with a camera, because he would have loved to capture them. The truth is, my Dad is not great with a camera. He occasionally lucks out with a good shot, but nothing like the semi-pros we have here. The irony is, he could draw one better than most of the Cellar. Probably, haven't seen your drawing skills.

Anyway.

This might have been taken in England this year. For the first time in my memory, the canal froze over. And we had snow at least this deep. It's a feasible shot in my opinion.

And I love kingfishers. And halycon days.

[capnhowdy]

Originally Posted by SPUCK

Yeah why would he leave his beak open?

He could be attempting suicide.

[wolf]

They're migratory, and shouldn't be where there's snow, right?

(I didn't think kingfisher because you can't see the crest. I spent some unsuccessful time on a birdfinder site last night)

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by wolf

They're migratory, and shouldn't be where there's snow, right?

UK kingfishers certainly aren't migratory.
And they feed from slow moving water (hence their prevalence on canals). This might turn out to be 'shopped, but not because of any anomaly in bird facts.

[monster]

that looks like a hole drilled for ice fishing. There are Kingfishers on the lake here where they ice fish, biut I've never seen one in Winter

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ouch! Good reason cover your icehole.

[spudcon]

Maybe he cut the hole in the ice himself. He just couldn't figure out how to build a little shack.

[Undertoad]

Update: photo not shopped, comes via Daily Mail story.

Thanks to lurker RocketGirl.

[TheMercenary]

Cool, I have been racking Google looking for the shot or a good scientific discussion about their behavior. Found this interesting little tidbit:

Belted Kingfishers have been known to share their tunnels with swallows. The swallows dig out small rooms tucked in the tunnel walls.
To avoid being eaten by hawks, they will dive into the water.
Human activity, such as digging gravel pits and building roads, have created banks where they can build nests and expand their breeding range.
A group of belted kingfishers are collectively known as a "crown" and a "rattle" of kingfishers.

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/61/...ingfisher.aspx

The breeding distribution of the Belted Kingfisher is limited in some areas by the availability of suitable nesting sites. Human activity, such as road building and digging gravel pits, has created banks where kingfishers can nest and allowed the expansion of the breeding range.


The Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more brightly colored than the male. Among the 93 species of kingfishers, the sexes often look alike. In some species the male is more colorful, and in others the female is.

During breeding season the Belted Kingfisher pair defends a territory against other kingfishers. A territory along a stream includes just the streambed and the vegetation along it, and averages 1 km (0.6 mi) long.The nest burrow is usually in a dirt bank near water. The tunnel slopes upward from the entrance, perhaps to keep water from entering the nest. Tunnel length ranges from 30 to 250 cm (1 to 8 ft).

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAbou...isher_dtl.html

challenge for any diving bird is the change in refraction between air and water. The eyes of many birds have two foveae (the fovea is the area of the retina the greatest density of light receptors),[14] and a kingfisher is able to switch from the main central fovea to the auxiliary fovea when it enters water; a retinal streak of high receptor density which connects the two foveae allows the image to swing temporally as the bird drops onto the prey.[15] The egg-shaped lens of the eye points towards the auxiliary fovea, enabling the bird to maintain visual acuity underwater.[14] Because of the positions of the foveae, the kingfisher has monocular vision in air, and binocular vision in water. The underwater vision is not as a sharp as in air, but the ability to judge the distance of moving prey is more important than the sharpness of the image.[15]

Each cone cell of a bird’s retina contains a oil droplet which may contain carotenoid pigments. These droplets enhance colour vision and reduce glare. Aquatic kingfishers have high numbers of red pigments in their oil droplets; the reason red droplets predominate is not understood, but the droplets may help with the glare or the dispersion of light from particulate matter in the water.[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kingfisher

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Update: photo not shopped, comes via Daily Mail story.

Thanks to lurker RocketGirl.

Those other shots are beautiful. Thanks RocketGirl!

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Ouch! Good reason cover your icehole.