wilsondring

i was hoping that someone could cast some light on my observation today; on all the shots i got of the male going back to the hole, the fish head was pointing out, which indicates that he intended to feed, however, on each occasion, he came back out with the fish in his mouth before eating himself. The female, presumably the mother was flying around and never entered the hole/nest the entire day, .. this time of the year is of course a bit early for breeding. What might be happening here please? The weather has suddenly turned cold and started to rain the last couple of days, might it be an early breeding couple and the chicks have died from the weather.. or he is just practicing? thanks in advance ...

guangdong province, 12/02/2014

wilsondring

Someone Replied on my FB FYI ..

wcaptain

the female may be just a helper....

The female may be the male's daughter which maybe borned last yr.

The mother maybe incubating eggs in the hole

Just a wild guess

HFCheung

Courtship?

wilsondring

I did a bit of research on the net, .. pied kingfishers raise their young, not only in pairs but up to 3 or 4 bird, .. a father, a mother, and one or two others which could be the young from the previous year or totally un-related.  but they build their hole together as a pair, therefore, i think the female which we saw flying around, may not necessiarly be the mother, or if she is the mother-to-be, then the male maybe trying to entice her back to the hole with the gift.

i will wait for my friend's report from tomorrow before reporting back ..

wilsondring

same location as above, .. and most probably involving the same male, .. but this time, it would see as if a female is feeding the male .. what's happening with this lot of Pied KFs?

wilsondring

a comment from the FB Page:
"Kingfishers are known for a degree of sex-role reversal. This is the info about the belted kingfisher of North America. But belted kingfishers are quite similar to pied, so i believe that is the answer"

http://www.libirding.com/Kingfisher.html