PHOTO PROVIDED Shown is a kingfisher that just caught a fish. It will later swallow the fish whole.

A friend, Jim Smyth of Troy, is a faithful reader and every time I see him, he comments on my articles. He enjoys reading about birds. So Jim, this article is dedicated to you.

On our morning walk, Mary Alice and I were on the bridge crossing Sugar Creek when I heard the rattling call of a kingfisher. We stopped and watched as the bird flew upstream. This was my first kingfisher sighting of the year.

Our belted kingfisher belongs to the family Aleedinidae, which comes from the Latin word alcedo meaning kingfisher. The belted kingfisher’s scientific name is Megaceryle aleyon. The genus name comes from the Greek words meyas, meaning large, and kerylos, meaning a kingfisher.

In Greek mythology, Halcyone (the daughter of Aeolus) was the wife of Ceyx, who tragically drowned on his way to consult the oracle of Apollo. Halcyone was so grief-stricken that she drowned herself in the sea so that she could be near her husband. The gods took pity on this couple and changed them into a pair of kingfishers.

In their honor, Zeus declared that the winds should not blow for seven days before and seven days after the winter solstice. This two-week period coincided with the nesting period of the kingfishers, and from that time until present day, this period has been known as the halcyon days.

In the area of the Mediterranean Sea, the bird was thought to be able to calm the seas during its incubation period. The following adage originated with sailors: “So long as kingfishers are sitting on their eggs, no storm or tempest will disturb the ocean.”

Belted kingfishers are usually seen while either flying low over water, or perched on a limb (or wire) above water. The contrast between the bird’s long heavy bill, large blue-gray head, conspicuous crest, small body, short tail, and tiny feet can be seen when a kingfisher is perched. It seems to me that the bird appears to be top heavy.

Kingfishers will stay in our area until streams and ponds freeze over, and only then will they head south. In mild winters, some might not even migrate south. When kingfishers do migrate they return in the spring as soon as the ice has melted. It is usually in the month of March that I write in my diary that I have seen my first kingfisher. The peak migration usually occurs from the first to the third weeks of April.

The rattling call of the kingfisher is often heard before being seen. I compare the call to the clicking of a fisherman’s reel. The kingfishers, which are quite commonly found near bodies of water, have specialized diets that include fish, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. Surveys have shown a steady long-term decline (3.1% a year) in their population statewide.

The nest sites of the kingfishers are also specialized. These nests, which are dug by both the male and female, are excavated tunnels in steep dirt banks, sometimes quite a distance from water. The burrow, which slants upward, is three to four inches in diameter and from three to seven feet long. A six to 10-inch nest chamber made at the end of the burrow is lined with clean fish bones and scales that come from pellets ejected from the adults.

It is also possible that nest cavities contain bones and scales from previous years since the nests are sometimes reused.

The female lays six to seven eggs in the chamber, with incubation taking 23 to 24 days. Approximately 23 days after hatching, the young will leave the nest. The parents teach the young birds to fish by dropping dead insects and other meals into the water below the perched fledglings. After the nesting season, the kingfisher’s family breaks up and they become solitary birds.

When a fish is spotted the kingfisher dives down and hits the water with a great force, sometimes disappearing below the water’s surface. The bird’s large head, neck and bill take up most of the shock of hitting the water. After seizing a fish between its bill, the bird flies to a tree, where it lands on a limb and begins to beat the fish’s head against the limb. The fish is then tossed up into the air, where it is caught head first and swallowed whole. Later, the kingfisher disgorges a pellet of fish bones and other indigestible parts.

I read in a book that the female and male kingfishers have somewhat reversed roles. The male does most of the digging of the tunnel for the nest and also most of the incubation of the eggs, while the female defends their territory from other kingfishers. The female kingfisher, with a chestnut band across her belly and rufous flanks, is one of the few birds in the bird world that is more colorful than the male.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.