Belted kingfisher on a wire next to Philbrick Marsh, North Hampton, this morning around 11:30 a.m.

They are not very large birds, but their shape is distinctive even from afar.

Asters and rose hips.

I was having a nice seaside walk with camera over shoulder. It’s in the low 60s today, partly sunny to cloudy, and the fall colors are starting to come out.

A kingfisher is a bird that just makes you happy when you see one.

With its top-heavy physique, energetic flight, and piercing rattle, the Belted Kingfisher seems to have an air of self-importance as it patrols up and down rivers and shorelines.

Belted Kingfishers spend much of their time perched alone along the edges of streams, lakes, and estuaries, searching for small fish. They also fly quickly up and down rivers and shorelines giving loud rattling calls. They hunt either by plunging directly from a perch, or by hovering over the water, bill downward, before diving after a fish they’ve spotted.

These kingfishers are powder blue above with fine, white spotting on the wings and tail. The underparts are white with a broad, blue breast band. Females also have a broad rusty band on their bellies. Juveniles show irregular rusty spotting in the breast band.

A kingfisher visits our backyard pond too, mainly in summer, but I have never gotten a good picture of it.