Kingfisher 2017; a story of survival
Penanti Pete White-throated Kingfishers are relatively common in Malaysia and Singapore but like most birds are wary of human, and wisely so. Over the last 5 years I have formed a sort of relationship with a male White-throated Kingfisher whose base is a motocross track on mainland Penang. I think it the same bird as his behaviour would suggest although their lifespan is reported to be 8 years. Individuals have a different distribution of the white feathers on their bellies but this also changes on a day to day basis....depending a lot on weather conditions. We will call him Penanti Pete...or just Pete. Pete has had three partners that I know of. When I first met him his partner had toes missing and was easy to identify but was not very photogenic. The next year his new partner was the Elizabeth Taylor of female Kingfishers. She was beautiful with clean vibrant colours. That is her below. She was somewhat naive when they first paired up and was not the best h...