Kingfisher or Kotare

A brief walk and a quick snap of a couple of handy kingfishers were all I managed today. One here and one in extras. Kotare is the Maori name for this bird.

The NZ Kingfisher only has one relative in this country and that is the kookaburra, which is uncommon but found in the far north. You can see the resemblance.

Yesterday, not only did I purchase a large and beautiful book of New Zealand Birds, but also got a CD to help identify NZ bird calls. I have spent a lot of this afternoon knitting the fingerless mittens for which  Blipper btw gave me the link, (thanks btw) and listening to the bird songs. I was happy to be able to make a positive identification of some that I had been unsure  about.

I can see I am going to lie in bed tomorrow morning listening to the dawn chorus and trying to identify which birds are involved.