Kingfisher

03 Feb 2012 Kingfisher by Sarah Kelman

The recent snowfall in many areas immediately resulted in changes to bird behaviour. At the Nunnery (BTO HQ, from where BirdTrack is run), Bramblings appeared at the feeders, whilst several Snipe and Woodcock began to frequent the unfrozen riverside on the nearby nature reserve. The local Water Rails and Kingfishers became particularly confiding as their need to find food overcame their natural cautiousness. Kingfishers are known to be susceptible to cold weather, and it is interesting to see that the 2012 reporting rate has been running a few percent higher than the last two winters (which were colder than this one, at least until now).



Related content