Birds of Prey today

I was out and about early this morning as the best part of today's weather was forecast for early AM.

With a blue sky over mounts bay and a few dramatic clouds near the horizon the sunrise over Newlyn harbour was to die for.

I travelled along the south coast looking for birds of prey along the cliffs.  The first bird I found was a local female peregrine which by the looks of the pale blood stains on her chest it suggested that she had already taken prey but I sat and watched her preening in the morning sunshine in her usual relaxed manner.

Next up was a male Sparrowhawk that flew out over the clifftops above the Peregrine.  This bird was hungry and anything but relaxed as it skillfully and swiftly swooped up and down the cliff shrubs and vegetation looking to surprise any small unwary birds to attack.   It moved on back up and over the cliff tops just as quickly as it had arrived.

Next to show in flight was a more relaxed but perhaps just as lethal hunter: A female kestrel that treated me to a lovely close hover that was totally devoid of any head movement.  What a contrast in hunting styles to the male Sparrowhawk that had gone before her.

Sparrowhawks although common are not an everyday sighting along these cliffs so I was a little surprised when a little later another Sparrowhawk arrived on the scene.  This time it was a female but just like the male before her she was in a hurry as she skillfully worked the up-draughts while looking for prey,

By this time the winds were rising and clouds rapidly filling the southern sky in front of a storm forecast within a few hours so it was time to head for home having very much enjoyed this early start to my day.

Diving Dipper

With high winds and blustery showers I didn't venture out to early this morning but when I did I headed for Kennell vale.

This wooded river valley is well protected from southerly winds and the swelling river levels would make things interesting while trying to capture images of its pair of often illusive resident Dipper.

One dipper was showing when I arrived so a careful slow approach was required as I settled down to record some interesting diving activity in the fast moving river water.

Following a little preening and a wing stretch the Dipper moved down to the waterline and was soon diving and skillfully picking off underwater insects from shallow waterfalls and eddies

The bird moved to a log jamb where the water was moving faster which caused a bow wave every time that the Dipper put its head under.

It also set a bit of a challenge trying to capture the second that the birds head came clear of the water. Just a split second to long and its well oiled head would be dry again

And finally the Dipper swam through a white water rapid to get to one of its favoured resting stones where it stretched its wings to dry off  before calling it a day and flying off up stream.

Short-eared Owls in Aerial Disputes

With my treasured Nikon D5 off for a service and clean I decided to try out my wife's Nikon D7000 to see how it would cope on my 500mm F4 prime lens while using Short-eared owls as my test subject,

The cameras slower response to focusing and its lack of focusing options was a definite draw back as was the small viewfinder but the two thirds size sensor made it possible to work on more distant owls without the need to add tele-converters.

I also missed my D5's 11 frames a second exposure having to settle for five.  Single bird portraits as above were working quite well so I pushed on to work with some tricky aerial dispute compositions several of which are posted here.

Near the end of the shoot I was pleasantly surprised when what I thought was a dispute between a Crow and a Short-eared Owl turned out to be a passing Male Hen Harrier

I shall be glad when my Nikon D5 returns from its service but I thought that the D7000 performed well under the circumstances and it will keep me going out and about in the mean time !

Ryan's field early AM

Kingfisher Landing and Take-Off:

Kestrel on the bypass covered handrail:

Black-headed Gulls display before diving for a Crab breakfast:

Gender Bender ?

Having worked in an area where half a dozen Short-eared Owls were regularly hunting for a couple of weeks,  I decided that now was a good time to narrow my sights down to one bird.

I selected one large colourful specimen that regularly used the field fence posts in one particular area to rest and hunt from.  I moved my tripod mounted camera set to remote shutter release in to about fifteen metres from this birds favoured post and selected a low angle of view that included some 'Purple haze' heath and hedgerow detail and backed away a hundred metres and tucked into the hedgerow and waited.

Sod's Law then dictated that I then spent a couple of frustrating hours while my bird landed on ever other post but the one that I was covering until finally it landed on the right one.

Following a bit of a full body plumage shake-out illustrated above my bird decided that it was time for a snooze shown below and judging by its amount of mascara and eyelash extensions I think it was probably a female  but  'whooo' knows in this gender bending world that we live in !!

My bird suddenly picked up on the sounds of a vole rustling through the rough grass field  in front of it and was off again in a flash but not without leaving me with the sequence of take-off images posted below.

The 'EYES' have It !

Owls appeal to most people especially photographers,  They are big, photogenic and graceful birds that treat us to occasional low flying hunting trips over rough grass fields and meadows in the evening sunlight.

But when the chips are down its the eyes set in their highlighted acoustic dish shaped face that really draw on our attention to make them pop out of any image to hold your attention for a spell.

The sequence of Short-eared Owls images below were all taken of the same bird during a close pass on a very dull evening last night, I noted that images taken before the bird saw me tucked down in a hedgerow were technically OK but lacking in real appeal. [  See the first small image below ]

As the bird turned towards me its eyes widened as it saw me and I was treated to one of those amazing glares that only an Owl can give you as it continued to move head-on in my direction,   Wonderful !!    I fired off around twenty shots in a couple of seconds and the results of some of  my Owl glares are posted below.