Irene Wanner wrote:
> a kingfisher...

...because Joyce wrote:
> > the Belted Kingfisher...

...so I write:
The kingfisher at East Bay this morning was a male. Every kingfisher I have
sexed during 5 winters of regular surveys at the bay has been a male. My latest
sighting of a female kingfisher at this Olympia location is 3 October (females
return at the end of April or beginning of May).

Last winter I wondered "aloud" on tweeters about other people's kingfisher
sightings and know at least one person saw female(s) during the gray season.

I still have lodged in memory an article from a decade ago, perhaps in Natural
History, that addressed differences in migration between male and female
kingfishers. However, nothing of the sort is mentioned in the Birds of North
America account. (The BNA account does mention a difference in molt pattern
between resident and migratory populations of Belted Kingfishers. Am I
rambling?)

I remain interested in knowing to what extent female kingfishers withdraw from
the Puget Sound region during winter. I would be happy to gather, compile, and
report information from any tweeter who posts to the list or to me directly
about kingfishers seen during the next few months.

This is an easy species in which to distinguish the sexes, although I always
need to pause momentarily to assure myself that the extra-colorful one is the
female.
--
Scott Richardson
northeast Seattle
salix at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/salix/