The Belted Kingfisher, My New Totem Animal

On a lazy, quiet, September afternoon at the lake with my friend, Kate, I heard a chittering sound as a bird skimmed across the surface of the lake. Kate, an avid birder, immediately identified it as a belted kingfisher. I was entranced as we watched him perch on an exposed branch of a tree on the island across from my lake house, first scanning the water, then plunging headlong into the lake to retrieve a small fish. He also made several runs down the channel that separates my shore from the island’s shore. We even saw his mate as the two of them flew together making the distinctive rattling call.

As soon as Kate identified the bird as a belted kingfisher, I could see it. With Kate’s extraordinary binoculars, I could make out his stocky blue-grey body, big head, ragged crest of a mohawk on top, and a grey band across his chest. His mate sported an additional reddish orange band across her breast.

There are a few distinguishing characteristics about this bird that I found interesting. Firstly, it is one of the very few species of birds whose females are more brightly colored than the males with her rusty-colored breast-band. There is speculation as to why she is more highly colored than he, but no definitive answer.

Kingfishers are highly territorial. That was the behavior we witnessed as he singly, then the pair together, patrolled their portion of the lake, flying low, calling the loud rattle. And they are fearless! Perched exposed, they watch for prey and dive for it, or else hover over the surface then plunge for it, not concerned that they are so conspicuous.

Kate and I didn’t witness this, but after a kingfisher brings the prey to his perch, he repeatedly beats it against the branch to break its bones and make the fish more easily digestible. Hatchlings actually have very acidic stomachs that can liquify bones and cartilage, but as they mature, they lose this acidity and have to deal with indigestible bits in other ways. Beyond physically breaking up the meal, kingfishers also regurgitate balls of undigested parts, just as owls do.

Their scientific name is megaceryle alcyon, the first half is Latin for “great kingfisher,” and the second name, it’s species name, is Greek for kingfisher. An alternative spelling is “halcyon,” as in “halcyon days.”

How did the kingfisher come to be known as the halcyon bird? Ancient Greeks believed that kingfishers built nests on a raft of fish bones and then set it adrift on the Mediterranean during the weeks surrounding the winter solstice. The gods protected these precious rafts by assuring calm seas and wind during this time, what the Greeks referred to as halcyon days. We now use the phrase to mean nostalgia for days gone by,

Greek mythology also tells the story of two lovers, Ceyx and Alcyone, who were so in love that they fondly referred to each other as Zeus and Hera. When the real Zeus heard of this, he killed Ceyx, and Alcyone killed herself in grief. The gods were sympathetic to the couple, and they resurrected both lovers as kingfisher birds, naming the bird after Alcyone.

As I did more research, I looked into the symbolism of the kingfisher. “(They) are symbolic of freedom, courage, adventure, and balance. They have a free spirit with wanderlust running in their blood.” https://www.sonomabirding.com/kingfisher-symbolism/

Woah! That’s me! Or me now, in this incarnation of my life. This might be my new totem animal.

When I was in southwest Georgia last weekend, I heard the distinctive rattling call again, and saw a kingfisher fly across the surface of a small lake. I took note, and began thinking about travel plans for spring and summer.