Capturing Progress: My Journey with the Elusive Belted Kingfisher
The first bird encounter that got me excited and launched me into bird photography was spotting a Belted Kingfisher at a local state park. I’m sure I had heard its calls before, but I never paid much attention.
But for some reason, when I experienced the kingfisher up close, my heart started racing. I was hoping for a chance for it to actually land near me.
And guess what… IT DID.
But here’s the catch: I was such a novice at wildlife and bird photography at the time that I completely fumbled my settings and never even got a shot off before it took off from its perch, never to be seen again.
Since that day, I have vowed to have another close encounter with the elusive Kingfisher.
And guess what… IT HAPPENED.
Recently, I went back to the same state park—Lake Sammamish in Issaquah, WA. However, my trip was not focused on photographing the birds or salmon that can be found near the rivers leading to and from the lake.
My trip was focused on sunset photography. Nothing special—just wanted to get outside and practice a few things. I brought along my Sony 16-35 GM, 24-70 GM, and 70-200 GM II.
After walking down to the creek, I started framing up some shots when a murder of crows flew past me. I captured a cool image of them all on a single dead tree. This happened to be the SAME tree from a few years ago when I took a picture of a Great Blue Heron (see homepage portfolio; it might still be up).
When the excitement died down, my eyes caught a deer grazing just on the other side of the creek. I quickly swapped lenses and was fortunate to capture a few keepers before the deer moved out of view.
And then I heard it—the machine-gun cry of the Belted Kingfisher. He landed on a branch some 20 yards (18.29 meters) away. In a matter of seconds, I flipped my ISO to auto, cranked up my shutter speed to 1/1000s, dropped my aperture to f/2.8, and toggled my shortcut for bird focus.
I then flipped focus mode from single point to tracking, focused on the kingfisher, hit my crop mode hotkey, and fired off a handful of images before it flew away.
This time, I finally got some images.
This was an important personal milestone in my journey. A few years ago, I was in a very similar scenario and walked away defeated because I was unable to capture the moment. But this time, my intuition took over, and all the necessary steps happened like second nature. My training and preparation had paid off.
I didn’t even realize it until I started walking back to my truck as the sun set over the horizon. I felt confident and like I knew what I was doing. Not only that, but I felt that feeling of progress. I felt like I belonged.
I don’t even know what all that means, but self-confidence is essential to taking good photos. Getting out of your mind and just trying to capture the world as you see it is a healthy step towards expressing yourself through photography.
I had a similar journey when learning guitar over 35 years ago. After years of hard work and perseverance, it just clicked. I got it. I knew what I was doing. I felt that my time and focus were worth it. I invested in myself, and it paid off.
All these years later, I am grateful to have similar experiences as I channel my creativity into a new medium.
It’s important to identify these moments in your journey, whatever it may be. Allow yourself time to reflect on your path. Are you happy with your progress? What have you learned along the way? What can you teach others who are on a similar path?
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to stop and smell the roses along the way.
The Edit
Here’s where things get a bit challenging.
Yes — I finally got a picture of my favorite local bird. But… I am not exactly thrilled with how it turned out. I didn’t have my 200-600 with me, so I really had to push my gear to its limits. Sure, this is easy to do with the Sony A1 and the 70-200 GM II (which IMO is the sharpest lens I own).
Still… I know I can do better. In fact, I will do better.
The RAW image at 200M.
This was the best I could capture in the current situation.
The Final Image
De-noised and sharpened with Topaz Photo AI, cropped and edited in Lightroom.