Common Kingfisher and a painter named Vincent

 

Vincent Van Gogh painting of a kingfisher is described by the Van Gogh museum HERE. I have seen the Common Kingfisher back in 2020 when I birdwatched at the Mai Po wetlands in Hong Kong with my friend Julianna from Sarawak. The birdwatching adventures can be read HERE. When it flies across pond, it is described as a flash of blue which goes to show how fast a flyer this kingfisher species is. Learn more about the common kingfisher, and admire the beautifully sharp pictures of this widespread species at eBird website HERE. I had recently bought a picture book on the world-renown painter Van Gogh whose paintings were only widely recognized posthumously. Netherlands, his home country has built a museum dedicated to his artistic works, where many of his paintings are exhibited. I have yet to watch the movie "Loving Vincent" which was based on his story. 

Ken Keffer's listing of the coolest kingfishers from across the globe can be read HERE. The common kingfisher from Europe's region is highlighted as well as the Banded, Black-backed dwarf-kingfisher species from Asia. The Pied Kingfisher has been observed across countries in the Asian continent including Thailand, India, Hong Kong (in which information about this uncommon resident can be read HERE), and where the only sighting in Singapore was that of a vagrant years ago on 18 September 1994 which you can read about HERE. I have encountered the common kingfisher during brief outing to Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan and when back in my hometown in Johor, several years ago, whilst birdwatching around marshland areas of Kampung Paya Pulai where the Chodan river flows. The common kingfisher species which I had recorded via eBird, was seen almost annually from 2016 onwards with my last sighting recorded as of 26 October 2019 at Tanjung Tuan, Negeri Sembilan. Picture of the common kingfisher feeding on a tiny-looking fish was captured during the Sepang Goldcoast Bird count conducted by the Wild Bird Club of Malaysia back in 2016 and that picture can be viewed HERE. I'm at the final chapter of the picture book on Vincent Van Gogh, in which he painted a wheatfield with crows, featured by Google Arts & Culture HERE. This is going to the saddest part of the picture book, yet I am a little comforted by the fact that his legacy lives on through his paintings, the intellectual property of which would now be in the public domain, (in Malaysia copyrighted work is protected for 50 years after the death of author/painter/singer) and that there is a Van Gogh museum in the Netherlands, which preserves his legacy.