Everything is Permuted

Tales of a South Downs fox... and other ramblings

The kestrels are excelling themselves

Sunday, October 19, 2008 10:33:38 PM

I may be having little luck with the foxes (one snatched shot tonight), but the kestrels are quite another matter. We had more garden waste to recycle, so after a quick visit to the local recycling facility it was down on to the Downs. The kestrels were out in force. We saw at least four during the afternoon, and I spent much of the time trying to get to the right side of the light. It can be infuriating having a perfect angle, with the kestrel hovering 20 or so feet away, but with the sun directly behind the bird. So I spent quite a lot of time scrambling around trying to find an angle to work from. I've added a small selection to my Kestrel album, today's photos starting here. Here's a sample:

Kestrel in flight

Kestrel photographed into the sun

The right side of the light

Wing power

Total control in the air

As a small side note, we seem to have two hedgehogs in the garden at the moment. Here's one from last night.

Hedgehog

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Nature Blog Network

Pattern RecognitionTwo from the garden

Comments

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl Sunday, October 19, 2008 11:21:27 PM

Great bird shots as usual, but the hedghog peaking from behind the leaves is cute. smile

Vulpes vulpes Sunday, October 19, 2008 11:47:07 PM

More excellent shots! The hedgehog is so sweet. love

Darkogdare Monday, October 20, 2008 4:58:21 AM

Nice, as always up Especially hedgehog bigsmile

What ISO level you have used on these?

Words Monday, October 20, 2008 6:31:05 AM

Thanks Mick. I know what you mean about the hedgehog. It was so cute I had to include it somehow!

Words Monday, October 20, 2008 6:31:24 AM

Vulpes, thanks!

Words Monday, October 20, 2008 6:34:02 AM

Darko, thanks! The hedgehog is obviously a star! The first kestrel was at ISO 400, then I switched to ISO 640. The hedgehog is ISO 100.

Adele BrandSittingFox Monday, October 20, 2008 6:12:03 PM

I don't think that a hedgehog is ever just a side note! Great pictures, all. These kestrels are beautiful. A TV documentary that I saw about gyrfalcons claimed that they were deliberately positioning themselves against the sun to help disguise themselves from prey on the ground. Certainly a lot of the raptors that I saw in Alberta were headed sunward. Clever, to be sure, but it doesn't make the photographer's life easy scared

CynthiaCynthia23 Monday, October 20, 2008 9:16:00 PM

Stunning kestrel photos and the hedgehog, ah, so very sweet! up

Words Monday, October 20, 2008 9:38:29 PM

Adele, that's an interesting point about where they think the prey might be lurking. I'm not sure the kestrel was being deliberately 'difficult', more that I was in the wrong field and cutting across it takes time. What was great was that it was hovering so low. That's what I love about that area. You can get up to about the height of the bird which is hovering in the next small dip along the way.

The hedgehogs both looked moderately small (not underfed, just young), which means we probably have three in the vicinity (at least).

Words Monday, October 20, 2008 9:39:46 PM

Thanks Cynthia. The kestrels were wonderful to watch. Usually we get to see a couple in an afternoon, but they seemed to be almost everywhere we looked this weekend.

NeilUkwildlife Tuesday, October 21, 2008 8:03:06 AM

Your certainly having alot of luck with the kestrels at the moment!

Words Tuesday, October 21, 2008 5:47:23 PM

Neil, it's a great location for them. Never really any trouble seeing them, and often they are simply hovering ovr the road side at the edge of the fields.

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