Today I Learned: Kingfishers Live in Industrial Areas

[mishalak]

The amount and variety of wildlife living in cities is really quite extraordinary. Yesterday I went for a long walk down by the South Platte River and not more than 200 meters from the still operating power plant there there two kingfishers calling at each other. As there are no trees on that stretch of the river one of them was using a wire strung across the river as a perch to call and hunt from. I only recently learned what the "rattle" call of the belted kingfisher sounds like and now I am hearing and seeing them every time I go near water.

Comments

[mishalak]

Not as loud or as bold as a kookaburra, but not a shy bird. From what I have seen in nature specials ours splits the difference between the common kingfisher and the kookaburra.

We have increasing amounts of wildlife in Denver including the North American beaver. I have been watching them cut down trees along "my" creek with great interest.