The Malachite is one of 9 kingfisher species found at Londolozi. Measuring just 14 cm from tail to bill and weighing only 17 grams, it would seldom be seen if it weren’t for the bright colouration of its bill and feathers. Occupying the margins of rivers and pans, it is not often you get a good view of them. As with most small birds, they are high-energy and seldom sit still for long. This was why we were so fortunate two weeks ago to come across one fishing at small waterhole in the southern reaches of Londolozi.
After seeing that it was quite content with our presence, we positioned as close as possible to the pan – irrespective of your lens size a bird this small never really fills the frame!
Over the next hour we were treated to an expert display of hunting from the small bird. The speed of its movements meant we needed the full hour in order to experiment with different techniques and settings in order to get the shots we wanted.
In this first image, you can see a little bit of mud on the kingfisher’s bill from an earlier dive into the pan.
Just before impact, the kingfisher tucks its wings in for a streamlined entry into the water. On impact, it will open them again to slow itself down and to be able to propel it back out of the water.
After a lot of practice, I finally managed to get a few diving pictures in focus.
The key was using back button focus to focus on the bird and then re-framing the picture, leaving the perched bird in the top corner of the frame and anticipating the direction it would dive. As it was usually diving either left or right relative to us, this meant it should still be in the same focal range as its perch. A fast shutter speed of 1/2500 sec helped freeze the action.
My initial attempts were either out of focus, too late and the bird was out of frame, or it flew the wrong way!
It used at least three different perches around the pan for hunting. At a small pan like this it was most likely fishing for tadpoles.
Despite some impressive tenacity in its fishing efforts it came up short multiple times. The tadpoles must have been wilier than it thought!
I love this little bird! So beautiful! What a treat to watch one ‘tadpoling’! You got some great shots. I have plenty of photos like the one you had of the backside of a bird! If you find a market for those, please let me know! ?
well done!
Such wonderful photos of one of my favorite birds. Thanks!
Excellent Photo’s!!!
Thank you for the lesson on the Malachite kingfisher. It’s certainly one of the beautifully colored bird. I also appreciated your camera settings and have a question. I, like you, use back button focus on my d810 and would like to know if you set your AF focus to shoot on the A-C setting for continuous focus in matrix metering, or focused using A-S Also if you focused using the former setting, did you select group or one of the other settings? 2500 is a really high shutter speed…. did you use Aperture priority or shoot manual. Obviously you were using manual iso…… I’m a novice Wildlife photographer working to improve my images. I’ll be at Londolozi during the third week if November and hope I have a guide with great photographic skills so I can learn more. ???
Hi Denise,
Yes, I was shooting on the A-C setting for continuous focus, although once getting my focus where I wanted it, I released the focus button to ensure the focus remained in the same place when I started shooting. I was using just the single central focus setting. With the speed the bird was flying, I needed at least 1/2500 to focus. In addition the good light made it possible to use this without having too high an ISO. I was shooting on manual (selecting aperture, shutter speed and over/under exposure), with auto ISO. If you need additional tips, pop into our photographic studio when you are here in November!
Stunning, stunning pictures! Even the one flying the wrong way is great. And that one coming out of the water trailing the water – Wow!
And, oh David, you poor man – to have to give up a career as a chartered accountant for this! What a cross to bear!
Beautiful photos! Nice work David – thanks for sharing!
If you can find a kingfisher by water, it really pays to stop and watch. Had some amazing viewing of kingfishers by the causeway a few years ago. Andrea Campbell was driving and we really saw some amazing moments with at least three species of kingfisher. Then we ambled away and saw three leopards…
What a great series of images of this pint-size beauty!
What a magical hour that must have been.
Super photos of this little jewel of a bird – so lucky to see.
Hi David,
Fantastic pictures! Birds are divine! They bring so much joy, happiness and beauty! Thank you for sharing!
We were fortunate to see this little fella on one of prior trips. Excited to see some summer birds next month, since we have never been there in the summer!
Exquisite birds, definitely one of my favourites! A great place to photograph them is the Rondevlei Bird Hide in Wilderness National Park, Western Cape!
Stunning capture.