A belted kingfisher bird on a tree branch in Stayton Oregon

Guest photographer Rita Elkins brings us today’s photo of a beautiful bird. Her description:

Here’s a couple of photos of a Belted Kingfisher…which I took a couple of mornings ago… Don’t know what happened to the photos…but they didn’t turn out very clear…but just thought I’d send them to you anyway…just in case you might want to use one of them…

“This little guy (Belted Kingfisher) was perched on a limb…the other morning…just across the creek from me…so I got a few shots of him…and then he turned and flew back down the creek away from me…”

I’ve only seen one of these birds twice in the last year…so I was a little disappointed…that the photo didn’t turn out better…

I hope Rita doesn’t mind, but I cleaned up the image a bit (removed some digital noise, and added some sharpening). Thanks, Rita!