When the winter seemed to be approaching its end here in The Netherlands, we were still served a good chunk of winter at the last minute, just like in February 2018. A nice layer of snow and heavy frost for days on end made it difficult for the kingfishers to get their food. With two pumps I could keep my pond open so that the fish remained accessible, three kingfishers made grateful use of this for a number of days. This did lead to a lot of struggle, especially the female was very busy chasing away the two males present. I suspect that she eventually found a place for herself, because after those days peace returned completely on February 13. The young male didn’t show up either, so the adult male had it on his own, which gave me a great opportunity to figure out how much he eats in a day.
With three converted 2K Wi-Fi cameras and two kingfisher scales, I could follow him all day, every visit was recorded and filmed. He can be recognized by a pattern of blue feathers that form a kind of peninsula on his chest. Also, his behavior was so relaxed throughout the day (except for the moment at 16:44) that it was abundantly clear that he was alone and that I was dealing with one and the same male.
I know they can eat a lot of fish, because I’ve been following them this way for several years, but I was still amazed at the amount of fish he ate on this day. Below a report of that day.
13-02: The day starts cold, at 7 o’clock in the morning it still freezes 8 degrees, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon the temperature is just below zero. The sun shines almost all day and in the morning the wind picks up a little to force 2-3 from the east. The fish eaten were mainly roaches, between 6.5 and 8 cm long, with an average weight of 2.2 grams. In total he ate 42! It must have been a total of more than 80 grams that day. He produced at least 4 pellets, of a considerable size, longer than I was used to find.
7:22 he arrives shouting, tie-tie, tie-tie, tie-tie, ti-tie … ti-ti, can’t measure him yet because he’s going to a branch without a weighing element. It is still twilight, the cameras are still giving an infrared image
7:26 catches his 1st fish, then weighs 40.6 grams, then sits comfortably on the branch
7:31 dives for a fish but misses, 20 sec. later a 2nd dive follows, which is a hit, the 2nd fish, it then weighs 42.4
7:37 poops a little bit, first stool of the day, after 11 minutes since the first fish
7:42 poops some more, now weighs 42.1
7:44 catches 3rd fish on 1st dive, then weighs 44.3
7:55 catches the 4th fish, then weighs 45.1
8:00 he flies away
8:12 He’s back, now weighs 43.5
8:16 produces the first pellet of the day, then flies straight to its favorite fish branch
8:17 catches 5th fish with first dive, half a minute later the 6th fish with first dive, then weighs 46.1 and is now looking over the lake
8:26 a good spray of poo, then weighs 45.0
8:34 a good spray of poo, then weighs 44.1
8:37 stretches hard, turns around
8:38 poops a little bit, then weighs 43.8
8:41 He catches his 7th fish, a big one because it weighs 46.7 after that
8:48 poops, then weighs 45.6
8:54 catches 8th fish, then weighs 47.2, then flies away after a few minutes
9:15 back again, catches 9th fish with first attempt
9:16 flies away again
9:26 back again, catches 10th fish with first try
9:37 flies away
9:47 back again, catches 11th fish with first try
9:48 flies away
9:55 back again, catches 12th fish with first try
9:56 catches 13th fish with first attempt, then sits belly up, looking over the water, in the sun
10:17 After sitting in the sun for 20 minutes, she moves to a branch a meter away and spits out a pellet
10:31 catches 14th fish with first attempt, flies away 30 seconds later
10:42 is back again
10:43 catches 15th fish with first attempt, immediately 16th fish with first attempt, then flies away
11:07 is back again
11:15 produces another pellet, then immediately catches 17th fish with first attempt
11:16 catches 18th fish with first try
11:19 flies away again
11:34 back again, catches 19th fish with first try
11:51 catches 20th fish with first attempt, half a minute later another fish (21) with first attempt
12:11 still sitting in the sun, stretching once
12:15 produces a pellet, immediately catches a fish (22), hits the first attempt, dives again and catches another fish (23), eats it and flies away
12:37 is back again, now at the constructed breeding wall, flies to his fishing spot after a few seconds and catches a large fish (24) in the first attempt, sits for another minute and flies away
12:58 is back at wall
13:10 catches a fish (25), then a failed attempt, a little later another failed attempt
13:22 another failed attempt, the attempt after that is hit (26)
13:36 catches a fish (27) with first attempt
13:37 Failed attempt, then a successful one, another fish (28), flies away a minute later
14:17 is back, catches a fish (29) but needs 3 attempts, it is a big one right away
14:19 flies away again
14:30 is back again, catches a fish (30) in the first attempt
14:32 left again
14:50 back again
14:53 catches a large fish (31) after the second attempt, eats it and flies away
15:26 back again
15:36 catches a fish (32) in the first attempt, eats it and then leaves
15:47 is back again, catches fish (33) in first attempt
15:48 catches another fish (34) in first attempt, then flies away
16:19 is back again, first attempt fails, second is hit (35), catches another fish half a minute later (36), with first attempt
16:20 leaves
16:36 is back again, catches a fish a minute later (37) and immediately flies away with it, shouting loudly in a certain direction
16:44 is back again, sitting on the stick panting, upright and making some threatening movements, for the first time that day there seems to have been competition 30 seconds later a kingfisher flies from behind and immediately chases after, sits down a little further and communicates, tie-ie, tie-ie
16:47 is back, now relaxed again, stays 2 minutes and leaves again
17:07 is back again, catches a fish (38) with the first attempt, it is already getting dark
17:12 catches a fish (39) and immediately flies away with it
17:28 is back again, catches a big fish with first attempt but drops it, he left fish previously fallen in the snow by the way
17:30 catches a fish (40) with first attempt
17:38 dive not succesful, but a second attempt hits, eats fish (41) and flies away a little later
17:54 back again, catches a fish (42) with first attempt
17:57 the sun has set a while and it is cooling down rapidly again, he flies away, probably to his sleeping place. In the end he survived the winter, I have not seen the female again, but given the behavior he now shows during a visit (several times a day), it makes me suspect that they are busy with a nest a quarter mile away.