Inalok pero tinanggihan

Bird photographers are always looking for action shots - birds-in-flight, food-in-mouth, preening, etc. One of the most sought after shots is when kingfishers are courting, one bird, presumably the male (?), would catch a fish but instead of eating it, it will give it to his mate. This happens so fast and usually the birds are not on the same focal plane so getting both birds sharp its quite a challenge.

Last March 8th, I was at Capayas with a couple of birders and the Rufous-backed and Blue-eared Kingfishers were holding court. When the Rufous-backed started calling, Erwin, the resident bird guide, told me to be alert because the call it was making was summoning its mate. At the same time it was craning its neck while looking at the stream below.

"Asan na ba yung isda para sa darleng ko?"

After a few minutes (which seemed like eternity), the other bird arrived. The shooting area was not very well lit so when I saw that there were two birds already, I just started firing. I was waiting for the first bird to hand over the fish but to my surprise the second bird did not take the offering and the first bird instead ate it. It was only when I was reviewing my shots in my camera's LCD screen that I saw that the second bird also had something in its beak!

"Pinaghuli kita ng isda"

"Sawa na ko sa isda, ito gagamba, try mo"

"At paano naman natin gagawin yun, aber?"

"Ayan nalunok ko na yung gagamba, akin na yang isda"

"Ano ka sinisuwerte?"

"Kakainin ko na ito, bahala ka sa gagamba mo"

At nauwi sa LQ ang kanilang ligawan.

The End

Postscript: Note that in the second and third photos (even the fourth), the head of the fish of Bird #1 was away from the bird. It is an indication that it was intended to be given to Bird #2. After the second bird ate the spider, the first bird decided to eat the fish it caught and it had to flip the fish (5th photo), so that it will be swallowed head first (6th photo).