White Tailed Kite Portrait

I was able to get within about 60 feet of a pair of white tailed kites in the dead branches at the top of a tree. They show up almost every evening so there must be something that keeps them coming back. I have not seen them catch anything yet. This is a 100% crop from the original image.

That's some amazing detail. And what a beautiful bird.

Great shot, Bill.

Love the red eyes on these guys.....great capture Bill.

That crop holds up nicely Bill, and gives us a closeup look at him.
He looks very much like what we think was a Mississippi Kite that we spotted here for the first time about a week ago. We had a small group of 3 or 4 of them swooping and diving to catch large insects (cicada maybe). I suspect most songbirds are not likely prey for Kites... ours sure didn't seem alarmed by their presence.

thanks for posting this shot,

Kenn

Now that's close Bill! The eye is on you, love the color. They sure have a short little beak.

Nice close up Bill. The Kites are so cool, wish we had more numbers here.

Do you any wider views of the birds? Would enjoy seeing more.

kd_reno wrote in post #10287083
That's some amazing detail. And what a beautiful bird.

Thanks, Ken. I feel very fortunate to have them right outside my front door and they will often let me get within about forty feet of the tree (except then I would be shooting almost straight up).

sparker1 wrote in post #10287324
Great shot, Bill.

Thank you Stan.

Shar824 wrote in post #10287709
Love the red eyes on these guys.....great capture Bill.

Thanks, Sharon. The first time that I opened an image of one of these guys and saw the eye color, I was very surprised at the bright redness. I was also pleased to see that there was very little motion blur in the catch light in the eye.

kenn3d wrote in post #10287852
That crop holds up nicely Bill, and gives us a closeup look at him.
He looks very much like what we think was a Mississippi Kite that we spotted here for the first time about a week ago. We had a small group of 3 or 4 of them swooping and diving to catch large insects (cicada maybe). I suspect most songbirds are not likely prey for Kites... ours sure didn't seem alarmed by their presence.

thanks for posting this shot,

Kenn

Thanks, Kenn.Originally I thought that it was a black winged kite until I found that they are only found in the eastern hemisphere. Then it took a lot of looking before I finally could see the white underside of the tail since they only show up in the evening about a half hour before local sunset. The available light for photography drops off very rapidly at that time of day. I tried taking some images at ISO 1600 the day before, but the results were simply not up to snuff.

ajosteve wrote in post #10288201
Now that's close Bill! The eye is on you, love the color. They sure have a short little beak.

Thanks for the comment, Steve. Most of the time, they were looking the other way, but I finally got a few shots where the head position was much better. I am sure that those beaks could raise a good blood blister. I am also very impressed by the stockiness of their legs and feet with really sharp talons. For anyone who has not seen these birds, their body size is comparable to the common crow.

Nighthound wrote in post #10288762
Nice close up Bill. The Kites are so cool, wish we had more numbers here.

Do you any wider views of the birds? Would enjoy seeing more.

Thanks, Steve. I was about to process and upload some full views of this bird if I can squeeze it into my schedule. Otherwise, it might be the weekend before I get a "round-tuit". Dang, being retired sure does increase one's work load.

Hi, sorry, but this too is a Mississippi Kite, white tailed kites have black shoulders. : )

peregrineflier wrote in post #10293037
Hi, sorry, but this too is a Mississippi Kite, white tailed kites have black shoulders. : )

This bird definitely has black shoulders, but the low contrast in the late evening light along with the light being very orange gives a false impression of actual color. I tried to find a white balance compromise somewhere between actual colors at that time of day and a fully corrected white balance.