The Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a water kingfisher and is found widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Their black and white plumage, crest and the habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish makes it distinctive. Once getting to them in the wild, these Kings are "reasonably" easy to photograph when on a branch, however the eye, which is solid black and lies inside a black mask of feathers is very hard to get separation from those feathers. Mostly the eye is invisible in photographs. That takes hours of timing and patience to get the catch light and the curvature.
Please Site Council can we have a "WILDLIFE" category...NATURE is technically a description for Zoo Lions and garden passers-by attracted by sugar water and seed feeders, peanut butter and other tricks.
ETA: Not a bad result I guess for a JABS :) Thank you for the lovely comments, they really are the best part of DPC as were the commentators votes!: Avg (commenters): 8.2500
Here's one in flight with sushi.
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I hoped it was yours, when I saw it. The light is handled so well, and the DOF is forever,as far as I'm concerned. [Where it matters of course, just look at the nice bokeh]
Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). This is a male, as indicated by the double band across the chest. Widely distributed across Africa and Asia. But, I'll guess sub-Saharan Africa for this fine specimen.
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