More Kites

[Mitcon]

Sorry, I do post alot of Kites and Kestrels But they are some of my favourite raptors and I'm always out watching them. I think I need to start shooting some birds that prefer to be close to the ground or on it lol as I almost fell out of the dang tree today at one point :oops:. Black-Shouldered Kites.

[Desertraptor]

Brilliant. You have to get out here for the Wedgetails and the large Kestrels we have.

[Paul A]

Keep shooting! Good shots love those kites, do you know the species of this one?

[Mitcon]

Peter, I agree and have been at the wife to let me go out that way for our next holiday. Who knows, maybe this year she will give in ;).

Paul, These are a black-shouldered kite (Elanus axillaris). I think it was male but very hard to tell without being able to hold it to sex it. The female and male are both alike with the female being 2cm larger than the male.

[ngannet]

That is one beautiful bird. I could never tire of your shots of these raptors! I've always loved the eyes on kites, one of the most beautiful of raptor species. Looks a lot like the N. American White tailed kite.

[BigAl-SA]

Nice shots. Looks a bit different to the Blackshouldered Kite that we get here in Africa (Elanus caeruleus - I think).

I admire your tree climbing technique :)

[Metgolf]

They are great shots, I especially like the first one. What was he looking to grab, hopefully not you :) I love looking at fotos of raptors, keep on taking and posting.

[dancad]

I love the hovering position in the first shot... Mitcon, did youn notice a horizontal bar running through this image (right at the tail's level)? BTW you can keep posting pictures of theses species as they are quite beautiful birds and I don't tire looking at them...

[sparker1]

Great captures, especially the first.

[Blackburnian]

Stunning captures!

Keep posting.

Marc

[Dragonslayer]

Very nice shots here, I wish the first one you could see the eye as that would make that shot as perfect as you could get.

[Mitcon]

They all do look alike for Elanus axillaris (Australian Black-shouldered) and Elanus leucurus (White tailed kite) are both sub-species of Elanus caeruleus which is also known as Black shouldered or Black winged kites.

As for what it was after, it looked like a water Vole but I didn't get a good enough look to see.

I didn't notice the line but now that you have, I looked and yes I see it also. Wonder what happened, looking through other shots from yesterday I see it on another also. Sorry all, I am a bit lazy and should have got rid of it. I don't like playing about with them alot on the computer. But I wonder what caused it, any ideas folks ?

I'm not sure which camera took these shots so will have to play with both of them to see if it's a fault with the cameras.

[tupe]

Oh, man I just love that first pose! Really different with the feathers together. Nice shots.

[Mitcon]

Thankyou all for the flattering comments, they are a beautiful bird and I do love watching them so much. I enjoy these and the kestrels so much I'm out watching them most days of the week. I just didn't want to tire folks out of such beautiful birds. I keep trying hoping to one day to shoot that just perfect capture.

[Desertraptor]

[quote] I keep trying hoping to one day to shoot that just perfect capture.[/url]

Going to take a lot to out do the first shot.

[RockOne]

Great shots. We sometimes get those around here -but I haven't been able to get that close to one :-)

[Ferco]

wow these are amazing... do you use you bigma for these shots?

[wayne_eddy]

Love these birds, they're Black Shouldered Kites for sure. We have them in teh park across the road here.

Will post some shots when I get my Bigma and my camera back.