A fledgling of only a couple of days old, this Blue-eared Kingfisher was seen fleeing up and down the stream, unable to perch for long being a new kid on the block, it appeared to be chased off by other older birds when it attempted to perch.
AI overview:
The nest of the Blue-eared Kingfisher is an excavated horizontal tunnel built into vertical mud or soil banks along shaded forest streams.
Tunnel shape: A horizontal burrow dug directly into dirt banks, roughly 0.5 to 1 meter long.
Entrance size: Small circular opening measuring about 5 to 6 centimeters wide.
Height: Positioned roughly 0.5 to 0.7 meters above the water or ground level.
With the nest so hidden away, the only clue of a chick was the parents bringing back mainly small fishes and immediately disappearing into the dense and dark undergrowth, also cleverly shaded by low hanging branches and leaves.
It was impossible to foresee that the chick was already big enough to fledge, which it did just within a couple of days after I had spotted the parents' behaviour.
The one and only occasion that this juvenile perched so openly and long enough for some record images - its wet appearance suggested that it was already fishing for itself away from its parents that were nowhere to be seen.
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