Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 12
Belted Kingfisher
John James Audubon, Draw
Bird

Belted Kingfisher

Megaceryle alcyon
Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A big-headed, shaggy-crested bird with a dagger bill, slate-blue above and white below with a blue breast band; hovers, then plunges for fish head-first.
Male & female
Unusually, the female is the showier one: she adds a rusty band across the belly that the male lacks.
Voice
A loud, dry, mechanical rattle in flight, like a wooden ratchet, and usually the first clue a kingfisher is on the creek.
Diet
Small fish, crayfish, frogs and large insects, taken by diving from a perch or a hover.
Habitat
Any clear water with fish and a perch to watch from: creeks, lakes, estuaries.
Nesting
A tunnel 3–6 ft long dug into a vertical earth bank with bill and feet; 5–8 eggs at the end of it.
Size
11–14 in long, 5–6 oz: about a can of tuna, which is also what it is thinking about.

Each bird defends a stretch of water all year, so the creek likely has one resident kingfisher patrolling it, rattling at trespassers.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 29 calls on 4 days, first Oct 28, last Oct 31

2400:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 1 calls02:00 — 1 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 1 calls607:00 — 2 calls08:00 — 2 calls09:00 — 1 calls910:00 — 1 calls11:00 — 2 calls12:00 — 1 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 2 calls15:00 — 2 calls1516:00 — 1 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 1 calls1819:00 — 2 calls20:00 — 4 calls21:00 — 2 calls2122:00 — 2 calls23:00 — 1 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
49Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 6 callsOct 29 — 5 callsOct 30 — 9 callsOct 31 — 9 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 31 2:04 pm · 99% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 4:29 pm · 93% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:34 pm · 96% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 11:09 am · 87% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The belted kingfisher is a large, conspicuous water kingfisher, native to North America.
From Wikipedia, "Belted kingfisher", CC BY-SA 4.0.