This is a long clip (10 minutes) of a collared kingfisher, perhaps Singapore's most common kingfisher, taking a bath during a rainy spell whilst it was perched on a dead tree on the Chek Jawa shore fronting the seagrass lagoon. There was a pair of kingfishers cohabiting a small hole in the tree o rather it seemed like they were trying to create a nest hole by repeatedly digging into the tree. Even a dead tree can be of use and provide a home for birds!
It had begun drizzling lightly a few minutes earlier and the bird just sat on the perch occasionally fluffing up its feathers. It was only when the rain got considerably heavier when it started to spread out its tail feathers and then started grooming itself actively in the heavier rain. Towards the end of the ten-minute clip, the bird (one spot at back of neck) is joined by its mate (two spots on back of neck) before it flies on to another perch on the same tree whilst two-spot continues with its bath.
Read more about the collared kingfisher :
- http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Halcyon_chloris.htm
- http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Alcedinidae.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collared_Kingfisher
- http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1509_2009-04-21.html
- http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_01/collared_kingfisher.html
- http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/06/collared-kingfisher-and-caterpillar.html
- http://www.besgroup.org/2011/05/15/collared-kingfisher-%E2%80%93-breeding-along-canal/
- http://www.besgroup.org/2011/04/14/collared-kingfisher-%E2%80%93-cicada-prey-and-cicada-rain/
- http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/26/call-and-behaviour-of-the-collared-kingfisher/
- http://www.besgroup.org/2011/04/08/call-of-the-collared-kingfisher-continued/
- http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/24/collared-kingfisher-attacked-and-killed-a-flycatcher/
The clip was shot with the aid of an umbrella from the boardwalk and hope no flash from the sky struck closeby during the period. A quick exit would have followed any signs of lightning.
