Kingfisher's Box(ing) Day

The baby kingfisher had made a couple of short flights on Christmas day and had spent the night inside again, in a towel covered box.

Nick put him/her on the back verandah when departing for the "mine".



The little fellow spent most of the morning perched on our camping clothesline with his parents visiting frequently, bearing small frogs and grasshoppers.

Later in the afternoon we noticed many apostle birds but no kingfisher.  On investigating further we found he had flown into his tree and the other birds were bullying him.  We threw out some bread and happily the apostle birds flew down to fight over that instead.

Erin later reported that the baby kingfisher had flown next door and could no longer be seen.  However she spotted him much later in the day, flying near the bore drain with both parents looking on.  We saw all of them at different times during the remainder of our stay.

Kingfisher Kapers

"That's where he was!"

There was much excitement when Vaughan found a baby kingfisher fallen from the large tree behind the shack. (He is indicating the location in the pic at right).

Ants were all over the little bird and understandably it was quite distressed. Nick picked it up then handed to Erin, who dashed inside to bath him/her in the bathroom sink. 

The ants were many and quite tenacious, so it took some time to wash them all off.

(Meanwhile I washed out a margarine container to use as a surrogate nest).

Such a pretty little bird ...

First Nick and then Erin scaled the ladder to wedge the "nest" back in the tree.

The little kingfisher had soon hopped out though and was shortly back on the ground, again covered in ants - so Erin effected another rescue and basin bath.

Mum and Dad brought many frog tidbits!

Given he/she wasn't greatly appreciative of our "nest" effort, we decided a box on a bench at the back of the house was probably a better option.

We checked often and were pleased to see both parents visiting regularly.