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

[vicarage]

As often is the case, your kingfisher doesn't seem much like ours. All we get is a flash of blue, an excited thought, was that a kingfisher, and no sighting of it again.

[julesjones]

Looks a lot more like a kookaburra than a British kingsiher. From Mishalak's description I suspect it sounds more like a kookaburra as well. :-)

A lot of British industrial sites have a good selection of wildlife, particularly birds - they tend to be full of nesting sites that are hard for predators to reach, and the local humans leave them alone. And then there are the vertical cliffs with nice nest-sized rock shelves at regular intervals humans so thoughtfully provide in city centres - Manchester city centre has a sparrowhawk pair which presumably are either daft enough to eat feral pigeons or have found some more sanitary food.

[mishalak]

Yeah, ours sit out almost in the open scolding walkers and only flying away when someone gets within about 15 meters or thereabouts. Even then the kingfishers just fly to their next perch along the river or stream.

[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.