Bird of Prey pictures?

Hi Angus,  maybe it was territorial behaviour.  take a look HERE at this study on Common Buzzard.     Hopefully you will get further chances to get more photos although with Coronavirus restrictions in place you may have to wait a while.    Thanks for the update.     I thought with the legs extended in some photos it was more akin to courtship - but maybe not from what you witnessed  ! 

I am in the exceedingly fortunate position of only having to stand in my back garden to watch the various Buzzards flapping about. Now that there appears to be warm weather due imminent, I can break out a chair and sit in the garden. Indulgent laziness or what.

It may even improve my photography. I wobble around, standing upright to take these photos. The old Sigma 150/600mm contemporary gets a tad heavy, as I'M stood there pointing the thing almost vertically in the sky.

Sitting down, especially in a deckchair (though I'll have to fight the other half for that privilege) means I am well supported.

@ Angus,   glad you can see the Buzzards from the safety of your garden;   we were also lucky enough to have them overhead our last garden and although this is not a great photo as they were pretty high up in the sky (before they tumbled down in a lock)  this shows the ones I saw in courtship.    Later in the breeding season they would be joined by one or two juveniles who would keep in a close family unit being taught skills by their parents before eventually being "pushed out" to find their own territory eventually before the next breeding season began.  

Cracking Buzzard photos from both of you, Hazel & Angus. I've no excuses I really should get some Red Kite pics because they fly over my house daily. Always helps if the skies are blue.

Unknown said:

I really should get some Red Kite pics because they fly over my house daily. Always helps if the skies are blue.

Get your deck chair out tomorrow Tony as it looks like the weather's getting sunny;     hopefully most people will remember the rules and stick to their garden.    Love to see some Red Kite pics if you get the opportunity.      (my buzzard pic was from several years ago but it was a privilege to witness the beautiful courtship display and also the male doing his roller coaster ) 

Thanks for the Buzzard photos, Angus and Hazel (makes no difference how old they are--all are most welcome, Hazel!) I look forward to seeing more from anyone. We were fortunate to see two soaring buzzards high over our neighbourhood about 11.30 this morning. Seen with the naked eye, they looked about the size of those in your 600mm pic, Angus. They seemed to be gently soaring in circles around each other--a pair? I was chatting on the phone, so no chance of using the binoculars, I'd have had to leave the window to fetch them and was not going to risk it--watched 'til they drifted away. We'll hope to see them again in tomorrow's sunshine. Note to self--keep bins near the back windows!
TJ, I second Hazel's request for Red Kite photos, please!

Brilliant photo captures Angus, and not easy trying to follow most birds in flight at the best of times, let alone when they're having a squabble.

Glad you all liked the photos.  This time, whilst taking our permitted daily exercise (no great difficulty, as we have a footpath some 100m from our house), we saw a Red Kite melee. Four of the creatures, having a disagreement over some fields.

I always thought of them as being sedate, slow flying, graceful gliders. Oh no. This was mega get out of my territory stuff, which went on for quite some time. I took several videos over several minutes with my bridge camera. Then used Microsoft's MovieMaker to edit and compress them.

The trick to videoing them with a bridge camera is to firstly point camera in their general direction, then zoom in as far as you dare. Lock on to one bird and track it as best you can, hoping the thing doesn't fly too fast or change direction quickly.

I'm sure such dramatic scenes will all calm down shortly, as the serious business of raising young begin.

On a complete aside. I noticed, last night, our oak tree was budding out into leaf. Is this a tad early? Many small birds time their broods to coincide with this leaf bud.

Part 1 of 4, as this forum seems to restrict a max of 5120KB video per post.

Ah, I can have more than one video per post.  I just discovered that one of the videos was a smidgen over 5120KB