Another Red Kite

I was not going to upload this one considering i had uploaded a photo of a Red Kite a week ago last Saturday. This was the 1st image of the Kites taken with my new lens last Saturday. There was a slight improvement from last week to this weeks attempt as the sky came out in the image instead of it being all white, but the kite itself ended up darker and there does not seem to be enough data in the image to drag anymore detail out of it when processing, even though it was shot in RAW. May have to keep trying at this one until i get it right
Looking at both images from last week to this weeks Kite, i would say its two different Kites, i know we have a breeding pair local but for a while they have not flown together. The one last Saturday seemed to have damage on its right wing and part of a missing feather on its left, of course this could happen over a week but also there did not seem to be as much white on its head than the one last week.......Makes me think that only during breeding season they will fly together, and the last time i seen them together was around July and breeding season is about April to July so makes sense. But something else could mean this was not one of the breeding pair last week but a juvenile, the depth of its fork in the tail, last week it was shallow which is a feature of juvenile kites, whereas this Saturdays Kite had a deeper forked tail. Meaning this could be the offspring of our local breeding pair
Something else always makes me wonder, 99% of the time when i see them, its always on a Saturday, i do not think i have ever seen them on any other day of the week, cannot think of a reason for that other than feeding habits. But as they feed off Carrion surely their feeding ground would constantly change.

It's good they're around you Mark. I'm still stuck with doves, sparrow, gulls, blackbirds and the very odd tit or robin. But saying that none have been about that much.

Same here other than these Kites. Just unfortunate i am only ever able to capture them from underneath, if they came in a little lower, maybe just above the tree line then i may be able to get them head on or sideways on from the bedroom, capturing them underneath does not always make for a good image....

My Mam had this problem...Div ye bring in Carrion til attract them til land and feed. ( and make them vulnerable) It is a harsh moral point and taks some thinking.

A lot of photography involves moral decisions..

I watched a cat and a blackbird e'day. Cat got ready set..pounce and off flew blackie while cat leapt ..prostrated itself over the hedge lek it was on velcro.then looked at me as if to say..'oh lord come preserve my dignity' and it will do the same again in the morning.


The Blackbird however..will have learned.

That's not to bad Mark, it's very difficult to shoot small objects against white cloud like that. A lot of the air displays I shoot, I have at least +1 stop compensation dialled in, but even then it can still mean a lot of work in Adobe LR and pulling at the levels to get the results I want.

I'm sure with your determination you will get that "wow" Red Kite shot

Jings, Crivvens - it's Oor Wullie

Low light at this time of year can help if you're stuck 'under' them. You can sometimes catch the light on their undersides as they turn.

I know in some places Vikki some people put out chicken carcasses to attract them in. I wouldnt do this due to the area being quite built up. May of been different if i lived more out to the countryside and i was in an area where it is closer to their natural feeding habitat, even though they effectively would feed anywhere if they some dead animal caught their eye. The biggest groupings of Red Kite down near me Vikki is the M40 corridor, near High Wycombe, you see quite large numbers up and down that stretch of motorway looking for roadkill, and the surrounding area is more countryside.

Thank you Ken. I was happy with the improvement from the previous week, getting whispy clouds instead of white out clouds. Still a lot of practice needed to perfect my birds in flight shots and get that perfect bird shot, hopefully one day i will get there

Thanks Phil for the info, i just have to be fast enough to grab an image when they are turning, i am much too slow at the moment

As Phil said and also, you may try to attract them with meat scraps? I know this is often done successfully, and no different really to feeding the other birds that visit the garden. You may also attract other interesting things

xx

on the news about 6 months ago there was a cafe in Stokenchurch that feed them the scraps and they have 50+ sitting in trees etc waiting for the next lot .they were eating egg bacon sausages etc.

http://www.smoothhound.co.uk/hotels/chrisscafe.html

There's a MacDonalds somewhere in England that is plauged by them too.