Not many readers will have heard of a belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), halcyon bird of Greek mythology, or indeed have seen one. It is a rare native of the US — but it is illustrated in a brochure of “commonly seen local birds” of the Florida Keys, where thousands of Irish holidaymakers go every year. I have a beer mug from Sloppy Joe’s in Key West.
However, one tourist from Florida once turned up in Co Mayo and the unfolding story contains elements of McGahernesque detail with a jolt of shock/horror at the end.
This belted bird is different from the kingfisher of Irish watercourses. It is much larger, almost jackdaw sized, with a stout bill, long tail and elongated crown feathers giving it a spiky outline.
It has bluish-grey livery with a white neck and underbody making it much less attractive than its exquisitely feathered local relative.
I learned last week from a book picked up in a charity shop — JTR Sharrock and PJ Grant’s Birds New To Britain And Ireland (Poyser, 1982) and specifically therein from renowned Irish bird artist Killian Mullarney — that a “belted” was sighted on the Bunree river in Mayo back in November 1978, perched in a tree and occasionally uttering a harsh grating call like that of a mistle thrush.
It was noticed again on subsequent days and JE Fitzharris, a noted conservationist, was informed. He arrived in Ballina with other birders, including Mr Mullarney, who made a detailed report with sketches for official reference. In all, several weeks had passed since the bird’s arrival was first noticed.
Mr Mullarney has written: “The bird behaved in much the same way as a European kingfisher, sitting around (on a willow) with occasional bursts of fishing activity. Every now and then it became very raucous, uttering a loud, rattling call. When it went to feed it flew strongly and directly… It favoured a small stand of willows along the water’s edge where the Bunree runs into the Moy.”
Now comes the drama. The bird had been around for almost eight weeks when there was a sudden, unexpected event after a local person who had heard of the bird’s presence, promptly shot it.
Mr Mullarney wrote: “This outrageous act was reported to the Irish Wildbird Conservancy which pursued a successful prosecution.”
The belted kingfisher’s arrival in Mayo was the first accepted record of this Nearctic species in Britain and Ireland — but this was later predated by the British Ornithologists’ Union reporting an older sighting in Cornwall in 1908.
Two earlier Irish records, from 1845, were removed because of discrepancies.
The Cornish and Mayo records have been followed, with another belted kingfisher spotted in Co Down on October 12, 1980. That bird unfortunately met the same fate as the Ballina fisher — the mounted specimen of which is in the National Museum.
Further storm-blown vagrants may turn up here but Florida vacationers should get local guide books which illustrate beauties such as roseate spoonbills, tanagers, painted buntings and rusty-throated hummingbirds.
Who knows but some might make Irish landfall and face iPhone cameras rather than guns.