Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)

I mentioned the other day when I posted the photo of the Downy Woodpecker that I had been a stalking him for a long time. Here is another difficult-to-photograph bird that shares the same part of the West Bay Walkway, the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). I see this bird almost every time I am down there but it is usually so busy fishing that I generally end up with a series of shots like this. He (or she, I'm not sure) takes off from his perch (left above), then hovers about 20 feet above the water for a few seconds, then dives (right below), usually emerging with a little fish wiggling in that powerful beak, and skims away just above the surface to another perch.