“The kingfisher rises out of the black wave
like a blue flower, in his beak
he carries a silver leaf. I think this is
the prettiest world — so long as you don’t mind
a little dying, how could there be a day in your
whole life that doesn’t have its splash of happiness?

There are more fish than there are leaves
on a thousand trees, and anyway the kingfisher
wasn’t born to think about it, or anything else.
When the wave snaps shut over his blue head, the
water remains water — hunger is the only story
he has ever heard in his life that he could believe.”

~ From The Kingfisher by Mary Oliver

Belted Kingfisher photographed mid-hover, on a cloudy day over Puget Sound in Seattle. Processed in Silver Efex Pro.

Belted Kingfisher

Kingfisher Hover – ©ingridtaylar

Belted Kingfisher in Black and White

Belted Kingfisher – ©ingridtaylar