Kingfisher and Aspen by Robert Bateman

Kingfisher and Aspen by Robert Bateman

  

"A staccato rattle sound. There is nothing else like the call of a kingfisher. I am near a lake, and he is flying, but I can't see where. For some reason when I hear one I always want to see him. I like his shape, his air-scooping flight, and perhaps I might see him hover, plunge and catch a fish.

"Universally, the kingfisher is found near water and fish. But to me in North America, he always symbolizes clear, blue northern waters. The typical tree of this area, especially in the autumn, is the trembling aspen. The leaves, like medallions of gold, tilt and glint in the sun because of a flattened rather than rounded stem. even in the slightest breeze it shimmers and produces a gently rustling sound like distant moving water." Robert Bateman.

 

Published in 1981