Belted Kingfisher

All year I attempted without success for a stellar image of a Belted Kingfisher. The species is common across  most of the United States and Canada and many attempt to winter where open water persists. Kingfishers perch over water and dive for fish and other aquatic animals. They are noisy birds, and you can often hear their loud rattles as they defend breeding territories. To a human eye, females, with their rusty flanks, are the prettier of the sexes. The rusty flanks are barely visible in the second photo, taken at the Nisqually refuge on 11 September 2020. The male is only blue and white, like the bird in the first photo taken at Capitol Lake in Olympia on 9 November 1019.