Buzzard - absolutely newb at this

My office is in a bit of a rural area (old "refurbished" castle in the small village of "Nederhemert-Zuid").
Yesterday we were having a meeting and I had my camera out to take some shots of the whiteboard when this little buzzard showed up right outside the office.
I was able to fire off quite a few shots before it took off again, contrary to earlier attempts where it always scared away when the window opened.

There's three compositions here (all cropped a bit) and I couldn't really choose, so maybe you guys want to help me pick

All taken with my most modest gear: Canon 40D + Tamron 70-300 VC @ 300mm. Processing in Lightroom 4.
The bright green foreground foliage bothered me a bit but I decided against doing any heavy processing (on my work PC). Might update the shots when I'm on the more fancy IPS panels at home though.

#1: I like how it turned around and evaluated me here.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/8115667​738/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/8115806​964/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/8115807​492/

Well, he picked a very scenic branch to pose for you! Well shot. Your crops look fine to me.

I think the crop and composition are great. The leaf patch in front works, it matches the branches in the back. Some might say it is distracting but I like it, We'll done!

Excellent and i agree that your crops look fine.

Nice shots; I like the last one best.

But that's a buzzard? Much prettier than the ones we have around here

Thanks for all the nice comments

LV Moose wrote in post #15158200
Nice shots; I like the last one best.

But that's a buzzard? Much prettier than the ones we have around here

Hmm, I was hoping to avoid having to defend my ID... I have no clue
I checked which species are native and common here, and it's probably between Buzzard, Falcon and Hawk (in order of common as well as alphabetical).
I then used some ID site, and apparently a relatively short tail with short stripes should indicate buzzard. However, my experience with identifying bird types is limited to 30 minutes ago as well as this one time before where I never got sure... Any help is welcome

Buzzard in US = kind of vulture

Buzzard in Europe = kind of hawk

Really nice shots

Thanks for the comments guys

I made a facebook timeline cover out of one of them, shows it just before it takes off. Loved the focus and the claw in this one. Because the bird is really on edge here, you see all sorts of woodchips flying around as well.
There's a tiny bit of unsharpness in this one (movement I guess), so I didn't want to use a full size version of it, but in 851x315 pixels I guess it can't hurt.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/8121358​111/

Great shots. I like #1 best

Well, the business meeting was probably boring anyway, so a bit of bird photography probably was a welcome break. I like the first one best, with it looking over its shoulder trying to find something to eat. Very nice quality considering you hadn't planned to be shooting birds.

Your office is in an old castle? I am so jealous. I have baby buzzards that hang out on the tower outside my office window. Your photos are awesome, and your buzzards are pretty. Thank you for sharing.

Jon Clemens wrote in post #15168221
Well, the business meeting was probably boring anyway, so a bit of bird photography probably was a welcome break. I like the first one best, with it looking over its shoulder trying to find something to eat. Very nice quality considering you hadn't planned to be shooting birds.

Haha there was actually a business meeting, but my colleagues know better than to interfere when I see a photo opportunity - it's something like not waking up sleepwalkers.
Camera was out with a 50mm macro on it to snap pictures of the whiteboard, so mounting the 70-300 wasn't taking long

Pat Henderson wrote in post #15168680
Your office is in an old castle? I am so jealous. I have baby buzzards that hang out on the tower outside my office window. Your photos are awesome, and your buzzards are pretty. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks!
This is indeed the office building (at least, that's what it looks like when it snows):

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/5286406​589/

I like #1 the best because of the head angle (not as important as many think it needs to be though) and I also like the vignette added....really draws the eye to the subject. The bright foliage isn't as distracting as you make it seem and I think the vignette helps that. Great work on the processing on all 4 Buzzard images (including the one for FB). My office is a white work van....very jealous.

TweakMDS wrote in post #15170650
Thanks!
This is indeed the office building (at least, that's what it looks like when it snows):

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mdstoop/5286406​589/

It looks (and is) fancy, but comes with it's own problems. Currently my colleague has bat poo on his desk because a bat got separated from the colony and is stuck somewhere in the top of our room.

Damn! I wanna work there!