Hi all,
Last Thursday while I was at Congo headland (near Moruya, South
Coast of NSW) with my son James, we watched an Azure Kingfisher actively
feeding among the rocks in the intertidal zone of the rock platform that
extends out from the headland. It would have ranged from about 50-100m from the
nearest non-tidal point of land, and probably a good 500m from the nearest
habitat that I would have considered “normal” Azure KF habitat. We
watched it for about 15-20 minutes as it moved from rock “perch” to
rock “perch”. On two occasions we saw it dart characteristically
down to the water though I never saw it with any prey in its bill (it was
either very expeditious in dealing with its prey or it was unsuccessful). For
most of this time it was in the immediate “splash zone” of the
retreating tide though conditions were quite tame with little wave action. I
have several photographs of the bird.
None of the literature suggests that Azure
Kingfishers use exposed intertidal zones for foraging. The closest to this
seems to be rare use of exposed muddy areas in mangroves, and rare observations
on sandy beaches.
I was wondering whether anyone has seen
anything like this. I am considering writing this up for publication somewhere.
Cheers,
Harvey
