I thought I would start a new thread dedicated to our beautiful Birds of Prey and hope you will share all your fabulous pics of them aswell ......
Please feel free to add your pics
I will kick it off with one of my regulars...Jock the Sprawk
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
I'm constantly amazed about how much luck is involved when photographing wildlife. Yesterday evening, I ventured into the kitchen to get some dinner. I glanced out of a window to check up on our bird feeder - ya never know what you might see. In this case, nothing, but the feeder was running on empty.
Do I top up the feeder first or do I top up my tummy first? My rumbly tummy won.
After dinner, I went, as usual, to unlock the back door to the garden. A bird of prey flew by and landed on our left fence. I would have missed this bird completely had I fixed my dinner first - I would have been too busy troughing.
A quick glance out of door window confirmed it was a Sparrowhawk, attracted to garden by all the small birds using our bird feeder. I rushed into sitting room, grabbed my camera, and rushed back to kitchen. By this time my partner yelled that the bird had flown to the right fence, but she didn't know where precisely.
Frantic scans of fence revealed that the bird was hidden behind our damson tree. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I attempted a shot
Ah. Well, I tried. But note how dense the twigs are. There is a Damson and Victoria plum tree here, pollarded and pruned to keep them small. Inter-twinning among their branches and the fence are two rambling roses.
At this point, I noticed that the Sparrowhawk was whizzing amongst the branches, chasing something - no doubt a blue or great tit. I just held my camera, pointed it at the trees, and kept pressing the shutter release button, without using the viewfinder - as the action was both over and done with so quickly and the birds were whizzing and twisting and turning through the trees and roses. I got a about four photos like the above.
However....
And then...
And a little bit more as the bird came to rest...
With the kerfuffle over, and the bird at rest, I was able to use view finder and get this. Look at that eye, what a glare.
And this
Isn't she a beauty? Shame she faced the other way after here tussle with the foliage.
She then flew to the back of the garden, hiding just out of site
I reckon she kept her beady eye on me.
This is the first time we've ever seen a Sparrowhawk in our garden. I was astonished that firstly she flew in so brazenly, and secondly she hung around so long. After a couple or three minutes hiding in the foliage, she took off right, disappeared, then reappeared further away flying to the left.
I was chuffed, especially as we have a relatively small garden in a fairly built up area, surrounded on three sides by housing estate and then Wokingham to the north.
I shall now be glued to our back window, as I reckon she'll be back, seeing as so many birds visit our bird feeder.
Glad I ate dinner first.
90% luck, 5% field craft, 5% camera skills.
Male kestrel silhouetted on a bit of a gloomy Peak District morning today. Watching me walk past and hoping I would fall in the mud.
It's been a beautiful day here today. Clear blue sky and lots of sunshine, (for a change) ...
I like the first one Angus ... nice bushes ...