These photos are from 27 October 2020 at the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. This Belted Kingfisher dove from the railing of a boardwalk above tidal mudflats. The bird flew out of the water, dove, and returned with a fair-sized fish. I guess the fish is a sculpin, a common, bottom-dwelling species in Puget Sound. Sculpins can produce painful stings. The kingfisher bashed its fish against the boardwalk railing, but I do not know how a kingfisher is supposed to safely swallow even a dead sculpin. Perhaps the bashing breaks dangerous fish spines. They usually swallow their prey headfirst. Did I mention that sculpin can also bite? They have large teeth. Besides fish, kingfishers consume mollusks, crustaceans, insects, amphibians, reptiles, young birds, small mammals, even berries (Kelly et al. 2020).
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