So it's a buzzard

When I was taking photos by The Thames this week with the DA55-300PLM I spotted what I thought was a Red Kite circling high above. Out of curiosity and to test the lens to the extreme I fired off a few shots.

Whilst they are not what you would use for a 'Birds of Britain' album they did reveal that it was NOT in fact a Red Kite (the most common bird in the area) but a Buzzard.
(You certainly couldn't detect the different tail with the naked eye)

Here is an extreme crop of the RAW file worked on in PSE11




Peter

A beautiful animal!

I seen one yesterday attacking seagulls at high altitude as they were sharing the same thermal right above my house in Belfast. He/she showing their prowess. I have never seen this before and surprised by it.

Nice capture

Many thanks for the comments, Simon.

Strangely with Red Kites it's the other way round. The 'resident' crows react quickly to any intruding Red Kite and 'escort him off the premises' !

Peter

We seem to have a lot more around than previous years which is good news. As you say they are very impressive birds and even your extreme crop shows great detail of their markings great detective work

The buzzard is more common than kite by us, which I'm glad of as it is one of my favourite birds.
Stunning shot to get the pluamge against the sky, I usually end up with sillouettes.