Sacred kingfisher visits our garden

 

Sacred Kingfishers are no longer as common in Perth as they once were. In the 1980s I used to see them at Lake Gwelup. More recently I've heard them calling from the Karrinyup Lakes Golf Course. This week a juvenile Sacred Kingfisher visited our garden, ate a few insects, and perched for some time in the Grevillea until being chased away by a Red Wattlebird.

Brown-winged kingfisher Langkawi

Brown-winged kingfisher

 

 

 

 

There are eight species of kingfishers in Langkawi, some of which migrate in from other areas, spending just a few months on the island. I managed to see four species of kingfishers:

Brown-winged kingfisher (Halcyon amauroptera)
Collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)
Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)

From my experience, the White-throated kingfisher was the most common. It managed to pop up on most of my bird watching outings. It has a habit of sitting on the telegraph lines, watching the surroundings. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the White-throated.

This photo of the rarer Brown-winged kingfisher was taken on my first day, right before my zoom lense froze.

Kookaburra sits ...

Kookaburra sitting in an old gum tree at Star Swamp, Perth

These birds were introduced to Perth over 100 years ago and because of that are still somewhat maligned by many bird watchers. However, I think after 100 years it should be time to embrace them and consider them locals. There are always a few kookaburras around in any Perth bush or parkland where you have tall gum trees. The WA kookaburras were originally released from the Perth Zoo and gradually expanded their territory to include most of Western Australia's South West.

The kookaburra is from the kingfisher family and  the largest kingfisher in the world. They prey on mice, insects, lizards and small reptiles. Although a kingfisher this bird doesn't  tend to go for fish, unless you have an pond with some juicy goldfish swimming around!