Fight or flight! Two kingfishers lock beaks as they battle mid air
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
By NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
Two kingfishers locked beaks mid air as they dueled over a small patch of land.
The confrontational birds were spotted in Tokyo, Japan, near a river during a light drizzle.
A stunning photograph was captured by onlooker Seiichi Tsuboya, 57, where one swooping kingfisher's magnificent teal and grey wings could be seen in their full glory.
A second bird appeared suspended mid air as it tightly locked beaks with its opponent.
Mr Tsuboya said: 'After waiting some time and watching each other closely, chasing one another back and forth, the decisive moment finally came. They confronted each other directly for about a minute, I think.
'Fortunately, neither of them was injured, and afterwards they both returned to their respective territories.
'I loved witnessing this, as a direct confrontation between kingfishers is a rare and precious moment that is very difficult to photograph.
'I spend around 100 days a year photographing kingfishers, but even with that much time in the field, I only get the opportunity to capture a confrontation like this once every one or two years.
'So I was very happy to have been there at the right moment to capture this rare encounter.'
A stunning photograph was captured by onlooker Seiichi Tsuboya, 57, where one swooping kingfisher's magnificent teal and grey wings could be seen in their full glory
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.