A Belted Kingfisher and a mink showed up at a small green lake near here. And they did it together.
It was always the right place to spot them. But, until now, it hadn’t been the right time.
The kingfisher’s not rare. I’d just never seen one here. Mink live in the nearby river valley, but they’re secretive.
I saw minks when I was a kid. They were dead, though, and wrapped around the shoulders of old great aunts. The intact pelts had glass eyes and dangling feet.
Cell phone trophy
A disturbing sight. If these had been on a Stone Age savage, I’d have gotten the point. Sort of a trophy.
The mink at our lake became a better trophy: My wife got a cell phone photo of it.
Shortly after the mink, I saw a Belted Kingfisher there. Another example of the randomness of wildlife sightings, which are mostly dumb luck.
If you want to see a kingfisher…or a mink…you need to do more than be at the right place. You need to be there at the right time.
I’ve watched this lake for 14 years, and never seen a Belted Kingfisher or a mink. I’ve seen Phoebes, Great Blue Herons, Spotted Sandpipers, Mergansers, a Loon and Pied-billed Grebes.
Saw a Caspian Tern take a few turns and leave town. I’ve seen muskrats, coyotes and snapping turtles covered in leeches.
Female Belted Kingfisher
At 3 am, lying in a rowboat I saw bats against the stars. But I never saw a kingfisher or mink here. Until the time was right.
First the mink. Then, the big female Belted Kingfisher.
Females can be bigger than males in the kingfisher family. That same peculiarity applied to the great aunts in my family.
Those mink-draped women were bigger than their husbands, who looked not only small, but kind of scared.
M.—–Regardng your closing sentences…….Kinda like a lot of older couples I see at Wal-Mart.
Poor little guy probably got drowned out of his house and was looking for a dry cozy spot on the deck.
Loved it! Especially, your great-aunts!
Even though I see kingfishers all the time, or hear them more to the point, I still love to watch them on our river doing what they do best. They are common here in the Pacific Northwest due to the coast. I occasionally see mink running on the road and it is always surprising. but in fact we have recently had fishers (also of the mink, weasel family) released into our park to repopulate and I am thrilled to say they are doing well
Hey D. Spector, as I re-read the first line of “Right Time” before putting it on the site, I also felt it sounded like the set-up for a joke. Figured somebody out there might notice. Not surprised that you did, since a few years ago I read a novel titled “Spector,” a damn good story about a stand-up comic. Coincidence, I guess. Coincidentally, that’s what our mink and kingfisher bit was about: coincidence. Funny. Not comic, but funny. Keep the observations and gags coming.
I thought this bit was the start of a joke: A belted Kingfisher and a mink walk into a bar. The kingfisher says, I’ll have an martini up with a twist of fly. The mink says, I’ll have swamp water on the rocks, and a wedge of mouse. The bartender says, “In case you’re drinking to forget, you’ll both have to pay in advance.”
Turn, tern, TURN! There is a tree straight ahead!