Henne Kingfisher

I heard this bird, a Belted Kingfisher, working its way through a local marsh, long before I saw it. And even then, the only real view I got was when it perched in a tree about 100-yards away from me. I got a few photos, but they were only for documentation purposes, since the bird was beyond the resolution power of my 55-200mm lens. It made me wistful for one of those superzoom cameras, particularly the Canon SX50 that I'd recommended for so many people and should have gotten when it was such a great deal... last year. It also made me wistful for a Nikon 800mm, but at $17,000-plus—I doubt this ever goes on sale—wistfulness is the closest I'll get to that stunning behemoth in this life. But as I was figuring that there'd be no kingfisher pictures worthy of sharing today, I got lucky. I often do, and this is a source of both great joy and reassurance that maybe I actually am doing the right thing. For not much more than 10 seconds, the fish-eating bird swooped in close and landed briefly on a dead snag. I was ready.