As I see it, any day with a Kingfisher in it is a good day. Any day with a cooperative Kingfisher in is a spectacular day. You may remember my last encounters with Kingfishers was at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, where they are, perhaps abnormally, skittish and hard to photograph. They will not sit still.

Well here I am in San Diego, at Famosa Slough, a 37 acre wetland preserve surrounded by urban housing just around the corner from the Sports Arena, and this Kingfisher was working the deeper water where the slough channel passes under West Point Loma Drive. There are some old pilings there, and some water gauge pipes she could use for perches and she fished the area for at least the 2 hours I was there. I photographed her for about 30 minutes before moving on down the channel between the slough and the river to see what I could see.

The wind was blowing way too hard, so the images are not as crisp as I would like, but still, you do not (or at least I do not) pass up an easy Kingfisher.

Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. Program with –1/3EV exposure compensation.

1) and 3) 3420mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 200. f9 effective. 2) 2958mm equivalent. 1/400th @ ISO 200. f8 effective.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.