Photographing Kingfishers in Flight 
By DWIGHT FRANKLIN, New York City 
With photographs by the author 
OR a long time it had been my great desire to secure a complete set of 
ie pictures showing a Kingfisher in the act of bringing food to its young. 
To my knowledge, this had never been accomplished. Needless to 
say, it is not an easy proposition. 
I am indebted to Mr. Howard Cleaves, of Prince’s Bay, Staten Island, 
for accompanying and introducing me to the spot where, in a sand-bank, 
the birds were nesting. The hole was located about fifty feet from the tide- 
line of Prince’s Bay, ; 
Staten Island, and was 
about fifteen feet from 
the water’s edge. About 
four feet below the hole, 
the bank sloped very 
gradually, so that we 
were enabled to set up 
our tripod cameras and 
bird-blinds. The latter 
were green umbrella 
photographic - blinds, 
copied after the one 
described and recom- 
mended by Mr. Chap- 
man. 
I stepped into my 
blind, focused my cam- 
era, set the shutter, and 
waited for the bird’s 
appearance, knowing 
they were not far away, 
keeping an eye on the 
hole through an open- 
ing in the blind above 
the camera. 
Presently the famil- 
jar rattle was heard in 
the distance, gradually growing louder as the bird came nearer. There was a 
flash of blue and white, and the bird had returned with a fish in its beak. 
I immediately snapped the shutter and, at the sound, the bird whirled, 
flew away, still retaining the fish. It soon returned, however, and thereafter 
OR 
LEAVING THE NEST 
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