During my stay on Principe I had a lot of lovely encounters with one of the resident pairs of the endemic Principe kingfisher (Corythornis cristatus nais).
If I was inside my room and heard the familiar calls I would look outside and find one or more of them in one of their favorite perches.
Perhaps the most popular was that of the small tree right in front of the room – overhanging the beach. I could open my door, walk to my table and sit down without it taking off – that is how carefree they were. And the distance between me and them was regularly around 3 meters, which was hard for my long lens as that is too close to reach focus! Eventually I found a spot far enough back to reach focus on this perch and still be outside, but on another of their perches I had to stay inside my room to get a capture!
One good thing about staying under the roof of my room capturing the kingfishers is that I stayed completely dry during the many rain showers, and you can see raindrops in this capture as well as droplets on its plumage which is a beautiful addition.
It sounds like this:
Elevation: 3 meters
Last updated on 10 July 2024
