Feeling Lucky!

   Sometimes you just get lucky.  In wildlife photography, it is all about being in the right spot at the right time with right lighting.  There are a lot of "ifs" and a lot of missed shots but occasionally, life gives you the perfect instances and the photographs turn out well.  Granted, most professional photographers have far better (meaning more expensive) cameras than I do so their pictures are incredible.  I am not taking away from that at all and do not pretend to be to anyone else's standards.  I just enjoy being in the midst of the critters so photographing them has become quite the hobby.  I do it for me. 

  Kingfishers are notoriously hard to photograph because the critters just cannot sit still for long.  By the time the camera is focused, the bird is long gone and you are left with a picture of a tree limb or pier post.  When I heard the call of a kingfisher, something told me it was going to be "my day" to catch a photo.  While these are long-distance shots, I am still pleased that I managed to get a couple.  This was enough to help me identify that this was indeed a female Belted Kingfisher.  The band or belt across the chest says "Belted Kingfisher" while the second, rusty colored band is the identifying trait of a female.  Good enough for me.