Every image has a story and so is also the case with this one.

Crested Kingfisher has a wide distribution range in the Himalayas where it is found along water courses. It is found all the way to Japan and down into Vietnam but has a few ‘spill over’ individuals in Thailand as well.

I have seen it well in Bhutan and China and had a fleeting glimpse of one at Mae Wong in Thailand. Thus I never set out to do the 1 hour drive through winding roads going West of
Doi Chiang Dao where a well established pair is found.

I woke up at my hotel in Chiang Mai city and was greeted to views of Doi Suthep and a chorus of singing birds. I noticed about 20 species from my balcony and then decided I better get going.
An hour drive North of Chiang Mai took me to Doi Chiang Dao where I parked the car at the bottom of the temple that is nestled in between the outcrops of the surrounding mountains.

Basically I thought it would be good to spend an hour here before I would move on to my main target for the day. I got on to about 40 species in that time, Wedge-tailed and Pin-tailed Green
Pigeons being the better ones seen.

It was time to drive to the checkpoint that allows you access to Muang Kong and a couple of less known National Parks. At the checkpoint, about 10 minutes from the temple, there are a lot of butterflies and especially so on a sunny day. Well, today was sunny and butterflies were abundant! I hung around the carpark for several hours keeping busy photographing them.
Some very stunning ones at that.

After a great lunch cooked by some older ladies near the caves I started to drive towards Muang Kong. Such a lovely slow drive on a paved road that finally saw me at a fertile valley with a river running through it. Here I settled in a lovely resort with my own bungalow, overlooking the open spaces with the mountains as backdrops.

It is always fun to check out local birds in a new area and so I did. Wire-tailed Swallows is a very clean looking bird I don’t see very often and here it was busily feeding over the river.
The supper was superb, Wifi working great, owners very friendly, food fantastic and the room comfortable.

Next morning there was thick fog so no need to rush off. Toast and eggs with fresh coffee was a perfect start.

By 7:50 I was by the river and set up my hide. At 7:55 I heard the diagnostic call of a Crested Kingfisher from up the river. Bang, there it was, sitting right on the intended perch.
The bird stayed about 15 minutes before it flew in to the nest some 20 meters away. About 3 minutes later the mate flew out and perched briefly before flying off. The birds are on eggs so that meant I would have to wait a long time for a second round. Well, over 100 frames was taken so I figured that should be enough.

It was really great to watch this large iconic Kingfisher at such close range (15m).
Now I can truly say that I have seen it well!

I am glad I decided to take the time for this one. Really a lovely place to visit and chill out if time and purposes line up. Hard to fit in on a normal birding circuit but definitely a worthwhile endeavour!