Murray Hansen writes:

> Hi--I'm sorry that I've lost the posting re Kingfishers and the question
> about the presence or absence of males.

That's okay. I'm watching tweeters and picking up reports that way, too.

As this develops, I want to stress that I'm interested in ALL kingfisher
sightings in Washington (although I am focusing on the Puget Sound region). To
receive just males or just females will complicate matters -- and they're
complicated enough already! I'm also interested in "undetermined" reports.
Every kingfisher report is hereby encouraged.

> Today, at Chambers Creek (near the
> mouth of the creek downstream from the spillway), we had a female Kingfisher.
> So far this winter (since about the first of November), we have seen only
> females. I'm really curious--does anyone know where the males have gone? Do
> they "wander"?

Interesting. If you have specific dates for your sightings since November, that
would be helpful. Revisiting the same site through the seasons will clear the
picture of what's happening with kingfisher movements. It should also reveal
exactly when males/females return in spring.

An area with ONLY a female through winter would be unique (so far). "My" site
in Olympia has just males in winter, and most reports since this started seem
to suggest that females are less-often encountered by Washington birders from
November onward.

I've become suspicious that locations with females and males (Chittenden Locks,
for example, under Cliff Drake's watchful eye) have particularly abundant fish
populations that support both members of a pair. The only study on this that
I'm aware of has females leaving (apparently flying south) while males stick
around through winter.

A bit more info is gathered at the web site below.

And, just a general reminder that in the Belted Kingfisher world, females have
more color (a rusty belt) than males.
--
Scott Richardson
northeast Seattle
salix at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/salix/swm_beki.htm