Photo of the Day - Common Buzzard

Buzzards in Sunshine

With spring on its way (hopefully) the sun is now high enough for me to photograph the Buzzards in the garden with good light. They are looking in really good shape and have been displaying for a couple of weeks now, so hopefully will breed again nearby. Although this brings back memories from last year, of being woken at dawn by the screeching calls of the young, outside the bedroom window. All good fun though.

Milestone

A quick post to celebrate reaching over 10,000 images on my website, which has been up and running for 10 years now. Here's to the next 10,000.

My Website - Steven Round Bird Photography

Juvenile Buzzards

The Buzzards in my garden have bred and the two noisy youngsters have now discovered the food I put out for the adults. I popped into the hide this afternoon to photograph one of them.

Buzzard Close-ups

A quick session in the garden yesterday with the Buzzards. When I do one of these sessions I have to decide which lens to use - whether I want the whole bird in the frame or just part of it, I opted for the latter this time for some moody, full frame close-ups with a nice dark, shaded background.

A Quick Session with the Buzzards

I had time for half an hour in my hide yesterday to photograph the Buzzards. I am working on getting some close up flight shots, which will be an on-going project. For now though, I have to make do with one landing.

Frosty Birds

The past couple of days here have looked like a winter wonderland. Having had freezing fog, everything was covered in a thick layer of frost. With the sun shining I braved the minus 3 conditions for a few hours in my hides. My first goal was to try and get the Buzzards down on the frosty grass. It took quite some time before one of them decided to come to feed. The male was sitting in the tree above, but for some reason didn't want to come down. I think possibly because he had watched me go into the hide. The female who is much more wary than the male did eventually fly in. I had to be extra careful not to spook her as I had a feeling it would be over for the day if I did. Carefully, I managed to get the shots that I wanted. After she had gone I turned my attention to the 5 or 6 Jays that were coming in to feed. After about 3 hours the skies clouded over and it was back to the house to thaw out.

Buzzards in Flight

With some sunny weather the Buzzards have been circling above the trees in the garden. The low winter sun now gives the opportunity to achieve some good flight shots. As they bank round, their underparts being nicely illuminated.

Garden Buzzards - 12 Months On

It is almost a year since I started to feed the Buzzards in the garden and the pair are coming down daily now. They recognise me to the extent that I only have to go outside and they will suddenly appear, calling and circling around, hoping that I am going to feed them. They now get quite frantic when I put the food out for them, noisily sitting in the trees nearby and will swoop down to feed as soon as I go back to the house.

Garden Buzzards

The Buzzards are still visiting my garden to feed. The nest isn't far away and I'm hoping that they may bring the young with them soon. Here's a few recent shots.