Behind the Bird: Belted Kingfisher

Inspiration

Every summer growing up, I spent a week at a family friend's remote lakefront cottage in the Adirondacks. At some point during the drive from my parents' house in Connecticut, we'd turn onto a solitary dirt road, slowing to navigate the "washboard" left behind by the previous year's washouts. It was the closest I'd come to nature's ruggedness and remoteness.

The crown jewel of our late August trips was the 890-acre lake. I would bound down to the small boathouse and launch out in one of the guideboats—a canoe-rowboat hybrid developed specifically for the Adirondacks. More often than not, I'd row down "the arm" of the lake, where we had the best chance of getting close to wildlife.

On one such afternoon, my dad and I were making our way steadily along the shoreline when we spotted a small, top-heavy bird perched on a bare limb sticking out of the water. As soon as we drew close, it darted off and landed on the next perch along the lake.

With the sound of water lapping against the boat, we stayed close to the shoreline and tracked the bird for the next hour—watching it plunge-dive for fish, then return to the exact same kind of bare, outstretched perch to do it all again. I later learned that this was a Belted Kingfisher.

A boisterous middle schooler at the time, I was enamored with the way this bird zipped from perch to perch on the hunt for dinner. Now into my late 20s, I thought it was only right to pay homage to that sense of excitement and discovery through my art.

Process

With its distinctive crest, oversized bill, and bold profile, the Belted Kingfisher has such a unique silhouette. I wanted to capture the immediately recognizable shape of its top-heavy, compact body. From there, the challenge was balancing all of the kingfisher’s other striking characteristics, namely the thick white collar, blue-gray plumage, and rust-colored breast. I focused first on establishing the silhouette, then gradually layered in the secondary shapes, colors, and details. I ended up making dozens of adjustments to the individual crest spikes to perfect the cadence and head shape. The white dots on the wing add that extra bit of dynamism. 

The finished illustration is, in many ways, an attempt to represent my younger self’s growing connection with nature. To this day, I still get excited whenever I unexpectedly spot a kingfisher perched on a branch. If you have a memorable first encounter with a Belted Kingfisher, I’d love to hear about it. Please feel free to share your story in the comments below!

See the final print