Kingfishers - mating

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

After the courtship and having enticed the female several times with a small fish, mating follows. In one day, I observed mating five times, and there were as many as seventeen matings for one clutch. I am talking about my own observations here. There were several more matings outside these observations.

The female shows her mating drive by stretching out horizontally and beginning to tremble her wings slightly. Mating lasts no more than ten seconds, after which the male flies to a perch nearby.

The female lays an egg every other day and after about six days they start incubating. They take turns doing this. The female does most of the incubating. When taking over, the male often brings the female a small fish to strengthen their bond.

Incubating the eggs takes about 21 days. The kingfisher usually breeds two or three times a year. The clutch consists of four to eight eggs.

I use a fast shutter speed when photographing mating, depending on the light. This can range from 1/5000 f/4 ISO 1600, but I also sometimes use 1/1000 f/4 ISO 1600.

I take the photos with the camera on a tripod and I also often use a remote control. The distance to the birds is about 7 to 8 metres, and I work with a 600mm lens.

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