Yes, the kingfisher does present food to his mate as part of the courting ritual. I have witnessed this multiple times (usually March to May). Once at the Locks I saw a male bring a female five fish (over ~2 hour period), by the fifth fish she was "stuffed" and just sat there with that fish sideways in her bill. He watched her and waited nearby until finally he went and got a fish for himself. I finally gave up and had to go home--she was still sitting (squatting) there, with that fish.
So maybe your kingfisher was just "full" and couldn't pass up the great fishing, waiting to digest before swallowing another fish... that is my opinion.
Mary Willard Gallagheron the shore of Salmon Bay

Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:56:45 -0800
From: billandersonbic at yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Belted Kingfishers
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

I have photographed a kingfisher holding a fish by its tail and whipping its head repeatedly onto a rock to kill it rather than just sit around waiting for the fish to die. Is the kingfisher one of those birds that will present food to a potential mate as part of the courting ritual?


Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA



From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
To: Lee Rentz <lee at leerentz.com>
Cc: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 7:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Belted Kingfishers

Lee,

I see no one has responded to this. My thought is that the kingfisher was waiting for the fish to die. They are programmed to make sure it's dead
before they swallow it, often beating it on a branch as well as keeping it out of the water, and its programming may have been a little excessive. Well, a lot excessive. I guess it flew away with the fish, or you got tired of watching.

Dennis


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