Belted Kingfisher
MacKay Island NWR
Dec. 2014

This female Belted Kingfisher (notice the lower rufous breast-band) found me at MacKay Island NWR back in December. While observing a large raft of American Coots I saw out of the corner of my eye a smaller flying bird. She landed in a small tree just a few feet from the car.

I love the composition and the glint of light in the eye. Unfortunately the lighting was lacking, and the photo suffers from excess noise due to a high ISO (1600).