The time the blue kingfisher made a special appearance for a rainy day impromptu photo shoot and I happened to be there with a camera.

A month or so ago, I went to the local garden for my evening walk and it suddenly poured. I'd decided that rain was not going to stop me from letting my legs walk. Regardless of weather, it's up to us to make it fun. On this rainy yet sunny evening the kind that came with rainbows, I chilled out in the car. You can do so much of writing with the rain pattering over the metal and sometimes, I just do that.

Just before the rain completely ended, I decided to have a nice walk in the drizzle with an umbrella in one hand and a compact camera on the other for some experimental shooting. And while walking, something I didn't expect caught my eyeballs!

The blue kingfisher was chilling out at the base of a broken tree and I was quite near it. It was a huge carcass of a tree that was home to critters and it sat by the edge of the lake. This was the lotus-filled lake but now has been cleared up as the lotus overtook the whole body of water and stagnation bred mosquitoes. If you've not been in the company of starving mosquitoes ever in your life, give tropical Malaysia a visit and steer yourself straight into swampy areas in the evenings clad in inappropriate dark clothing. Anyways, equipped with a digital camera and an umbrella, both of my hands were quite taken up. At that time, I wished I had two more arms but alas, I took a few quick snaps of the pretty bird.

The blue kingfisher can be the quietest bird when it's by the lake's edge as it is scanning for fish. I mean, no wise creature ever approach fishing noisily ever. I have found out that it can be quite a loud bird when when it's warning that predators are nearby. I love catching the sight of the blue birds here in my town and have recently started to spot them at the residential areas too. There's something about the way the blue bird holds his or her posture on a low-hanging branch that delights me so. It's such a sweet silhouette and one that makes these kingfisher birds easy to distinguish from other birds. Their beaks are especially long and the vibrant blue on their back feathers is a sure mood-lifter. They say birds of a color flock together. So far, the most number of blue birds I've spotted at one time is four. Whenever I see one, in my mind's eye, I imagine a flock of blue birds flying up into the sky.

I hope you will enjoy looking at the photos as much as I have taking them and then looking at them again!



I painted my first blue bird using old nail polishes here if you're interested in checking it out. It's inspired by my first few encounters with the blue kingfisher seen at the local garden here in west Malaysia.

What do you think of the photos? Have you seen blue kingfisher birds in your area? Share your stories - I love reading them!

To end this entry, here's a quote by Alan Watts:

“There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.”