This seems to be a good time of year for the birds of prey. I've been having great success with kestrels recently, but these first shots are of a sparrowhawk and I didn't even need to leave home to get the photograph. It flew in low over our garden, presumably looking for prey.
The next shots are of a kestrel skimming over the downs at Sheepcote Valley.
And the final pair, to keep thing even…. a sparrowhawk field skimming near Falmer, and (in roughly the same location) a kestrel perched on a TV mast.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
gdare
16 Sep 2012Sparrowhawk and kestrel look too similar to me 😀
Words
18 Sep 2012Darko, the differences are easy when you get to know them, but they are similar in size and roughly alike in colour.
SittingFox
18 Sep 2012Excellent portraits! I haven't seen any sparrowhawks on this side of the coast which is a little surprising. A few buzzards are flying around though.
Kestrels certainly have an eye for useful posts!
Words
22 Sep 2012Adele, when I was out getting those final kestrel shots I was actually in search of red kites. Apparently there is a pair quite near here, which would be really quite special. I need to explore a bit more.