photos of Kingfishers of the Top End, NT

Kingfishers (and Kookaburras for that matter) really look as though they should have bills much smaller than the reality. Having said that, the colours of the Top End Kingfishers are simply stunning, so who really cares about the size of their bills.

Without doubt, the highlight has been the almost statuesque Azure Kingfisher on the Yellow Waters cruise we went on earlier this week. Every now and then it would "bob", to see through the ripples of the water we were told by the cruise skipper. I was a little disappointed in the photographs to be honest, something about the blues and the reddy/orange seemed to distort the detail, but still a pretty photo to show:

Azure Kingfisher

Another little snippet from the skipper was the black toe-nails, she really loved this bird!

The Forest Kingfisher was an oft-seen bird from the time we got into the "tropics". It is a delightfully bright blue in two tones and again seemed hard to photograph (maybe it is time for a camera upgrade!)

Forest Kingfisher

Sacred Kingfishers are not as common a sight, but when they appear, they like to put on a display long enough for some nice close-ups if you are patient:

Sacred Kingfisher:

Other kingfishers we saw was a couple of Little Kingfishers, and the Blue-winged Kookaburra

And I know they aren't a kingfisher, but the Rainbow Bee-eaters have really put on a show for the last couple of weeks, here is a sample:

Rainbow Bee-eater

Happy Birding!