BANG!!

[miriam_e]

It sounded like someone threw a ball against my window. I knew what it was and went out to investigate. There, on the ground below the window, looking very zonked out, was a gorgeous little kingfisher. It would have fit in the palm of my hand.

The eyes are almost completely closed. The white patch where the eye would be is the eyelid. You can see the barest gleam of shiny black eye at the top of the white eyelid. The eyelid closes upwards, it seems.

I took a bunch of pictures without approaching too closely, then left the poor little guy to itself. It would be safe there. About an hour later I went out and peeked around the corner. The kingfisher was still there, but now had sufficient wits to fly away as if fired from a gun. These little guys move like they are rocket-assisted... hence the loud bang when this poor thing hit the window. I hope it recovers well. At least with all the rains lately it should have no problem catching food.

Comments

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I had no idea they were blue.

Huh.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

In a funny way they aren't -- they are brown, but interference effects in the fine structure of the feathers reflects the blue light, and I think causes the other colors to destructively interfere. I don't totally understand it yet, but it has been proposed as the basis for far more efficient, non-fading colors than our current habit of using toxic dyes for everything. The feather colors apparently use a similar effect to the colors seen on the shiny side of a CD. Butterflies do the same thing.