Belted Kingfisher of Britain and Ireland
The Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon, is native to North America and a rare visitor to Britain and Ireland They are known to roam over a wide area the autumn and a few occasionally turn up on the shores of the British Isles.
The male “is identified by its large head with stiff crest plumage, its characteristically long and heavy black bill with a grey base and its tiny feet. Belted kingfishers are notable because the females are brighter than the males – a condition known as reverse sexual dimorphism” (Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/…/punctuated-equi…/2011/jan/10/4 ).
Belted Kingfishers are solitary birds who live near a variety of freshwater habitats in North America such as rivers, streams, lakes, gravel pits and reservoirs. “
Pairs breed “on or near bodies of fresh or brackish water or along coasts throughout most North America” (Guardian – above). They make their nests by excavating burrows in river banks and along the shores of lakes. Both parents look after the young and only rear one brood a year.
“Belted kingfishers live on a diet including sticklebacks, trout, crayfish and insects “They perch along streams, lakes, and estuaries searching for prey and fly quickly up and down rivers and shorelines giving loud rattling calls”
“They hunt either by plunging directly from a perch, or by hovering over the water, bill downward, before diving after a fish they have spotted “
Other prey includes small frogs, tadpoles, and reptiles. Plant material is sometimes eaten.
Most of the population travel south as far as South America during the autumn and return in the spring. Some remain on their breeding grounds in North America for the winter.
Belted Kingfishers “have a reputation for wandering widely during migration and vagrant individuals have been seen as far away as Iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom” (Guardian – above).
There are less than ten reports of Belted Kingfishers in Britain and Ireland.
The Belted Kingfisher was first seen in Cornwall in England during 1909. The last sighting of a Belted Kingfisher in Cornwall was in October 1979 when it stayed until June 1980.
The next sighting occurred twenty-five years later in Staffordshire during April 2005. The bird travelled to Howden in Yorkshire and then Peterculter along the River Dee in Scotland. (Birdguides - https://www.birdguides.com/articles/the-belted-kingfisher/ ).
A Belted Kingfisher was reported on the Isle of Scilly in April 2018 (Rare Bird Alert - https://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/…/Finders-in-the-field-Blet… ).
The first official record of a Belted Kingfisher in Ireland was along the River Bunree in County Mayo between December 1978 and February 1979.
Another Belted Kingfisher was seen in County Clare in Ireland in the autumn of 1984. The little Kingfisher stayed in County Clare until the winter of 1985 before flying to Country Tipperary where it remained until the spring of 1985.
The most recent sighting in Ireland took place at the Kylemore Abbey estate in County Galway in October 2012. “It is believed to have got caught in a jet stream across the Atlantic on its annual migration south” (Irish Times - https://www.irishtimes.com/…/rare-sighting-of-belted-kingfi… ).
The Belted Kingfisher is classified as of Least Concern by IUCN,
The population of Belted Kingfishers has been stable in North America over the last 40 years.
Kingfisher Mythology
“According to the ancient Greeks, kingfishers built their nests on a raft of fish bones and, having laid their eggs, they set the nest afloat on the Mediterranean sea and incubated the eggs for seven days before and after the winter solstice.
In order to facilitate this it was said the gods always made sure that the seas and winds were calmed during this period.
The Greek name for Kingfisher is halcyon, leading to the term ‘halcyon days’ which was originally a reference to the calm and fine weather at this time in Greece. We now use the term to refer to fondly remembered times in our past.
The name halcyon itself comes from the Greek goddess, Alcyone who was married to Ceyx.
According to legend the couple were happily married but made the mistake of calling each other Zeus and Hera, which angered the real god Zeus who in bad temper killed Ceyx by sinking his ship with a thunderbolt.
On hearing this, Alcyone, wrought with grief, threw herself into the sea and drowned.
Out of compassion, however, the gods later changed them both into beautiful flashing blue halcyon birds named after her and recognised in the kingfisher’s scientific name of Alcedo, after Alcyone.
In Irish folklore it is said that dead kingfishers preserved in a dry place will never decay and if put among clothes and other articles, they will preserve them from moths and give them a pleasant odour.
Another old folk tradition in Ireland and Britain describes how a dead kingfisher hung by a thread from a post will always have its beak pointing in the direction of the prevailing wind.
Shakespeare refers to this in King Lear, writing:
Bring oil to the fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters
A kingfisher, said to be the first bird to fly from Noah’s ark after the deluge, supposedly received the orange of the setting sun on its breast and the blue of the sky on its back.
It was considered a symbol of peace, promising prosperity and love” (Irish Times - Why the kingfisher is known as ‘the halcyon bird’ by Stephen Cotton: https://www.irishnews.com/…/take-on-nature-why-the-kingfis…/
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