h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember when I first saw a kingfisher. I was looking at the sea at Aberystwyth when I was surprised to see a brilliant blue bird at the water's edge. For a moment, I thought it was some aviary escape. Surely British birds aren't that bright? However, the common kingfisher is unmistakeable. They have a dumpy body and large head with a long bill. Their plumage is vivid blue above and orange-brown beneath. They aren't often seen by the sea in the summer, but in winter they sometimes move to coastal areas.
Kingfishers are regarded as vulnerable because they are easily affected by water pollution and by the development of river banks. They need clear water to see the fish and other small water creatures they eat. You might see them by a river or a lake fringed with trees and bushes. Typically, they will sit on a branch overhanging the water, watching for small fish. If they see something, they dive, to return with a fish in their beaks. They swallow the fish head first.
As they are strongly territorial, you are unlikely to see more than one.
I had not seen a kingfisher for a long time when I visted a local nature reserve. There was a flash of blue as one flew across the lake and alighted on a branch. It was good to see.

Kingfishers are stunning indeed!

I remember my first sighting of a Kingfisher, too. I was at a nature reserve, with an expert birdwatcher luckily, as it would have been very easy for me to miss the tiny bird if I had been on my own - the orange plumage was surprisingly well camouflaged against the reeds. The Kingfisher posed on a reed long enough for me to work out how to focus a telescope to get a great closeup view of her and then I watched her surveying the water for a good few minutes until she flew off in a flash of blue

Good to see indeed

Beautiful creatures.

We don't have kingfishers here, so when we see something bright blue in the air, it's a bluejay. They're also a beautiful blue, but they're garrulous and mischievous corvids.

I know what you mean about being surprised at brightly-coloured birds. I grew up near-sighted, and I thought all our birds were mostly brown. Until I started to visit a new piano teacher. She had bird feeders everywhere, including small-bird feeders at her window.

That's when I saw the finches for the first time.

I suppose the goldfinch is the brightest of our common finches.