Beach Kingfisher

I often go to Raja Ampat to guide visitors who want to enjoy birdwatching and snorkeling. From my previous trips, I saw various species of coastal birds. One of them was Beach Kingfisher (Todiramphus saurophagus). This bird was quite big compared to Azure Kingfisher and Yellow-billed Kingfisher. Its calls were also unique. I could easily recognize the bird even when he was calling from behind thick branches, twigs and leaves of a tree.

One day I was standing on a hill near Port of Waisai town. I had been there photographing Willie Wagtail, Moustached Treeswift, Moluccan Starling, and Coconut Lorikeet. Suddenly, I saw a Beach Kingfisher landed on the naked branch of a tree that was very close to the beach. I quickly aimed my camera to the bird and pressed the shutter button several times. Although I could not get close up picture of the bird, I was quite satisfied with the result. At least it could be used in this post for identification purposes. written by Charles Roring