The fisher king

Most people I speak to who say they’ve seen a Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) describe catching a flash of blue as the bird darts away from them, flying low along a river. But, sometimes they generously perch close by, ever watchful, and always ready to take flight if spooked.

This was a male that happily sat perched just outside a hide at Wicken Fen. While I was snapping him, Mrs Sciencebase watched the female flying with their two chicks over the water in front of the hide.

I’ve been back several times since but never had one perch so close as this.

I won’t bother sharing the photo of a female I snapped from a narrowboat on The Cam last Saturday, it’s so blurred it looks like I coloured it in by hand with a dodgy paintbrush…

Incidentally, the regal common name has an obvious etymology. It’s a stately and royal-looking bird that catches and eats fish. But, the bird’s scientific name is a little cryptic unless you know your classics.

The name — Alcedo atthis — derives from the Latin alcedo (in turn from the Greek for kingfisher, halcyon) and Atthis, who was a beautiful young woman of Lesbos, and favourite of Sappho. If you were wondering about that former word, halcyon, its etymology can be found here, suffice to say that its modern meaning of calm and peaceful, as in halcyon days of yore, refers to calm weather before the winter solstice. At that point in the calendar, a mythical bird (something like a kingfisher, but not) was said to build its nest on the calm seas.