Ospreys from Mallorca

On my trips to Mallorca I usually see migrating Ospreys and I get a few shots of them perched up or a distant flight shot. A couple of years ago I was fortunate to have one circle around right in front of me, it then landed in the water...again right in front of me. The lake is very shallow and the Osprey took the unusual fishing method of running around after the Grass Carp. It never actually caught one but it did give me some great photo opportunities.

More images on my new website: Steven Round Bird Photography

 

Griffon Vultures

I have just processed my Griffon Vulture images from Spain in 2017, adding 78 new images to my website. Here's a selection of a few of them.

This was one of my favourite species we photographed on the trip, they were real likeable characters. Considering they had travelled a fair distance to the offerings of meat, some of them seemed to have just come along to enjoy the trip. They would lie down and sunbathe in the grass and flowering Lavender, seemingly with no interest in feeding at all. Others would gallop around and bicker with each other.. nothing aggresive, they just seemed very laid back.

Those were from a hide, we also visited a mountain top castle at Monfrague National Park. The birds were flying past level with or below us here, as we waited for the lowering sun the shots got better and better. They were flying so close at times that we were unable to fit the whole bird in the frame. As you can see from some of the close-ups here which haven't been cropped.

Buzzards

It's been a while since I posted images of the Buzzards that I feed in my garden. I found it hard to believe when I checked the dates, but I have been feeding them now for over six years. I do now take them for granted and was thinking the other day how lucky I am and how I would miss them if they weren't here.
With that in mind, I decided that I would regularly take more photographs of them, trying some new and different settings. Here's a few new ones taken this year.

Black Vultures

Another species from last April's trip to Extremadura, Spain is the Black Vulture. They were coming in to feed with the slightly more shy Griffon Vultures which seemed to hide behind them. They were all quite comical as they landed some distance away, before slowly moving in with a galloping waddle. Considering the distance they had travelled, it was interesting that some of them didn't feed, or seem to want to.
There was a carpet of flowering Lavender in front of the hide, it seemed strange to see these huge birds standing among the flowers, but made for some nice shots These and the Griffons are very impressive birds to see up close and it was a great memory for me.

Black Kites

Another species from Spain. These opportunistic scavengers were taking the meat put out for the Griffon and Black Vultures that we were photographing. As were the White Storks in my previous post.

 

Session with a Kestrel

I was recently invited by Austin Thomas to photograph a female Kestrel.  It is a wild bird that has become very confiding in him, as he has been feeding it for some time now.  He recently won the award of Birdguides photo of the year with a shot of the bird running towards him.

When we arrived at the site the Kestrel obviously recognised Austin's car, as it flew in and perched up nearby.  I got set up, lying on the ground, and in no time at all the bird had flown down onto the track.  This low angle produced some weird and wonderful images.  As it would run towards us, it's feet were at times completely off the ground, and with the track sloping away, the only thing in focus would be the bird.  It was great fun and I managed a good variety of shots in a relatively short session.

Many thanks to Austin for the invite.  I am very grateful to be invited to share, in reaping the rewards of the many hours he has put in, to be able achieve such images.