Belted Kingfisher & Broad-Winged Hawk

I biked in the Park this morning before work.  I got my usual fifteen miles.  I also got some more bird paparazzi pictures.  Importantly, at least to me, I got two new species, the Belted Kingfisher and the Broad-Winged Hawk.  Both individuals were adults.  The kingfisher was a male and the hawk was a light colored Broad-Winged Hawk of indeterminate sex.  I have been stalking the kingfishers since riding yesterday, when I saw at least four individuals.  They have been absent since spring.  Maybe they don’t like Saint Louis summers?  Today I saw only two.  They have a distinctive twittering call that they use at first sight of me.  I really think that they know I am stalking them.  The picture of the kingfisher is not as high quality I would have liked, mainly because the bird would not let me get very close.  One nice aspect of stalking the bird was that once it started twittering it did not stop, so you could follow it pretty easily.  I got one other halfway decent photograph of the bird in a tree.  After looking around again, I looked up into the same tree and saw the pictured hawk in the same spot.  Apparently, I’m not the only thing that a kingfisher should be afraid of.  Today’s header shows a Great Blue Heron.  On the way out of the Park, I saw Team Kaldi’s teammate Karie, biking to work.

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