Blue-eared Kingfisher Singapore

On 7 February 2022, I had a chance to photograph the Blue-eared Kingfisher again at the Dairy Farm Nature Park in Singapore after almost ten years. I remember the excitement when I first saw the beautiful bird in 2011 in Lower Peirce Reservoir in Singapore.

Dairy Farm Nature Park

The Blue-eared Kingfisher is more of a forest bird than the Common Kingfisher and is more likely to occur along inland rivers and streams in primary forest ( according to Phillipps’ Field Guide to the birds of Borneo). A female Blue-eared Kingfisher has all orange bills while a male Blue-eared Kingfisher has only a lower orange bill. The first two images below are female Blue-eared Kingfisher photographed at Dairy Farm Nature Park.

A female Blue-eared Kingfisher photographed at Dairy Farm Nature Park,Singapore.

Blue-eared Kingfisher in 2013 in Singapore at the SIngapore Zoo

Looking back, this was how it used to be in early 2011 to 2013 when the Blue-eared Kingfisher was sighted at the Singapore Zoo. Then, there was no “Social distancing”. ” Birds of a feather flock together”. In the case of Singapore, where social media was so prevalent with the excellent island wide coverage on 3G or 4 G networks (now even 5 G), news and images really travel fast. I believe Singapore is the city with the ” highest density for long lenses from 400mm to 800mm ” in the world

Photographing the Blue-eared Kingfisher in Singapore in 2013.

Male Blue-eared Kingfisher was sighted at the Singapore Zoo in 2013

Female Blue-eared Kingfisher at Lower Peirce reservoir Singapore in 2011.

In 2011, I took the first female Blue-eared Kingfisher at Lower Peirce Reservoir. It came so near to the open perch that my heart almost stopped. It was 4-5:30 pm on a sunny afternoon with sunlight penetrating through the foliage shining on the branch, where the bird perched. Camera on tripod and cable release on ISO 1250.