It's been a great couple of days for raptor sightings. Yesterday was good. I'd gone in search of the woodpecker again. I had no luck with that, but did come across a group of buzzards.
There were four them out together, and although they will be tiny in this shot I did manage to get the group in one frame.
If that wasn't enough, high above them in the stratosphere (well I exaggerate, but not a lot), a lone peregrine was surveying the sky.
Those shots were taken in dreadful, overcast light and barely do justice to the subjects.
Today the light was much better. I only had brief moments to get out with the camera. Brief, but productive. I'll come to the main sighting in a moment, but as a rapid follow-up to the female blackbird in the previous post I finally got a male blackbird on the wing, albeit only just!
There was a squirrel as well, but the in-flight shot of that was more of a blur than a photo. I had better luck with a sparrowhawk though.
All the previous shots pale into insignificance when compared with a grabbed shot I took early this afternoon. I had just finished a meeting and was outside de-briefing with some colleagues when something in the sky caught my attention. I'm prone to that… always half an eye on the sky. It must drive people mad, but sometimes it's worth it! It was high up, and at first glance looked like a buzzard. I grabbed a couple of quick 'reference' shots and thought nothing more of it until I uploaded them this evening.
The forked tail is the giveaway. That's no buzzard. It's a red kite :faint: Yes, a red kite… in Sussex!
I've seen these before, but always much further west (Reading, west of London is a good spot for them). There were one or two reports last year that they had extended their range in this direction, but despite my constant sky-gazing I hadn't seen any in East Sussex. Red kites have done extremely well in other parts of the country, but sightings this far south have been vanishingly few so to see one today was an absolute delight. It is sufficiently unusual that I've reported it to the local Ornithological Society. I've also checked a few other reports and there have been isolated but recent sightings in a 20 mile radius around here. If the red kite has indeed finally extended its territory to the South Coast then we are in for a treat. They are absolutely beautiful birds, wonderfully photogenic if you can get close, and provide amazing aerial displays.
Absolutely a red letter kite day…
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
debplatt
16 Apr 2010Wonderful shots! I loved being able to see light through the feathers of the blackbird. :up: And I'm very happy for you that you were able to capture a rare red kite on film. Loved the sparrowhawk, too. My, what a day!
gdare
16 Apr 2010What is the difference between kite and a hawk? In Serbian language there is no different word, we call both of them "jastreb" (read as "yastreb") Hawks are usual raptors in Balkan mountains.
SittingFox
16 Apr 2010Excellent!! I know you've been waiting for that one for a long, long time! Beautiful birds, one of the best.
Actually you seem to be doing very well with raptors all round. I'm half expecting to see a wandering sea eagle in your next post 😉
cakkleberrylane
17 Apr 2010Excellent shots! I've tried to take pictures of the American variety of kites, but didn't get anything worth showing. We only see them rarely and they don't stay long, so unless I'm outside with the camera at the ready – no luck.
The blackbird is so beautiful too. Brilliant the way you stopped him in mid flight!
Cynthia23
17 Apr 2010The clarity of movement in the wings of the blackbird image is awesome.
Really you show with simplicity the birds in flight. :up:
Words
17 Apr 2010Darko, the red kite is a member of the hawk family, but the more common one round here is the sparrowhawk. We also have falcons (the kestrel is the common local one). So many of them now, I don't know what to look for 😀
Words
17 Apr 2010Deb, thanks. I was pleased with the blackbird. They're usually too quick for me, bu tthis one was just branch hopping and eventually I caught it. The red kite is a rare treat but will now obsess me for ages!
Words
17 Apr 2010Erwin, thanks!
Words
17 Apr 2010Lois, thanks! Those shots of the kite aren't great but if I hadn't taken them I wouldn't have realized what I'd seen. Glad you like the blackbird 🙂
Words
17 Apr 2010Cynthia, thanks. Blackbirds are so tricky. They usually fly across my path like arrows, giving next to no time to get a photo. This one was just moving between trees so was well below maximum velocity most of the time. It helps!
Words
17 Apr 2010Adele, thanks. It's been some time coming. I was aware they were getting closer, but from talking with other birders it seems they are indeed in the vicinity and look set to stay. A sea eagle would be ultra cool 😀
Ukwildlife
18 Apr 2010cracking set of BOP images 🙂
Words
18 Apr 2010Thanks Neil!
Wulpen
19 Oct 2012Wonderful photos