Kingfisher questions

[powell7]

I all,
Where I go fishing there is a pair of kingfishers that seem to have chicks as there in and out the nest every few mins.
My questions are

No1 how long do the adults feed the chicks for .
No2 will the adults stay around the nest after the chicks leave.
No 3 will kingfishers leave for the winter or stay around all year.

Any help would be great,thanks
Christ.

 

[pope]

Have a read of this. may help.

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/gustavs-kingfishers-how-does-he-do-it_topic71711.html

 

[Blacklab]

Just remember , in the U.K., they are a "schedule 1" bird and restrictions apply to disturbing the birds near the nest.
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/species/speciallyprotectedbirds.aspx

 

[Deleted member 29733]

Have a read of this. may help.

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/gustavs-kingfishers-how-does-he-do-it_topic71711.html

Thanks John, a great link and a great read.

 

[powell7]

Thank you for that link.
The nest is on the none fishing bank which is over grown so no one could get near to it.
I'll be sitting opposite it around 200 yards away,do you think that will be ok?

 

[Neil B]

Thank you for that link.
The nest is on the none fishing bank which is over grown so no one could get near to it.
I'll be sitting opposite it around 200 yards away,do you think that will be ok?

You could be sat right on top of it, the important bit is "disturbing" the bird.
Look in the bird section for all the KF shots, how many of these were taken by people with a "schedule 1 licence"

 

[RJL2005]

IMHO I don't think it will be OK.

Here's my reasoning. Kingfishers are schedule 1 birds because the law has decided that they need protection. Imagine this scenario, you are set up on the opposite bank causing no harm but are seen by kids or worse an egg collector. When you have left the inquisitive little blighters go for a closer look and cause the adults to abandon the nest. You could easily be seen as the cause of the disturbance.

KF's are probably having a hard time this year, all of this rain we are having will cause nest sites to be flooded out. Another problem is the rain will cause the water to become murky and make feeding more difficult.

As for the images posted on here I would like to see a ban on posting schedule 1 during the breeding season.

I'd do them a favour and just enjoy seeing them. At 200yds any images you get are going to be tiny anyway. I'm sure you mean them no harm and please don't take offense.