A little distant, but to my mind the light and angle was just right to see the lovely plumage of this (definitely not dead) Red Kite.
River Thames, near Tilehurst.
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
It was, I think, being informed by a magpie to choose another tree, but I didn't manage to capture that.
Prospect Park, Reading, UK Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
I did manage to catch it after taking off, in a manner suggesting I was a contributing factor to the unease!
Far from the sharpest photo, but to me they look like they are in a formal dance.
Prospect Park, Reading, UK Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
Well, Merlin Photo ID thinks its a Meadow Pipit anyway, which if it is, it's the first time I've knowingly photoed one.
Prospect Park, Reading, UK
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800mm lens
I just found myself projecting all sorts of stories on this photo :)
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800 (so entirely the wrong sort of lens for this work)
Few birds around to photo in Prospect Park today, but this struck me as good enough to post here (especially given the current low post count).
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
Just because it amuses me, so some of you might also like it.
Prospect Park, Reading, UK
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
I'm sure you'll eventually see better, but still, 12/8/2026 Partial Solar Eclipse, Prospect Park, Reading, UK
First in sequence 17:09 Third in the sequence is 18:20, last 19:40
Canon R5 MkII + RF600 F11 +16 stop Thousand Oaks Filter, 1/500s, ISO and luminance all a bit of a mess with AUTO, -1 on camera, and luminance curve messing about
Red Kites just love the camera (actually they tend to fly off if I turn a camera to them, but...) so I can't resist taking ever more shots, so I'm afraid yet another from Prospect Park, today.
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
Prospect Park, Reading, UK
Canon R5 MkII + RF 200-800
Bonus food photo:
Far too high up in the sky even to be sure this was a Sparrowhawk, but a couple of Kites and this hawk were clearly interacting for a few minutes, though not that I noticed attacking each other - offered as I'd not seen this sort of interaction before (crows and jackdaws, now, they will eagerly take on Kites near their nests). Prospect Park, Reading, UK
Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800
If you create good art, you've got to celebrate it!
Oh, and a bonus one
It did make my walk, the day is yet young, but maybe to day as well!
Chalkie from 2022, the last time I've a photo of them (I've also some 2021 photos):
Jay, and an excuse to post my Jay photo from today (Reading, UK)
Well, yes, I suppose there's that...
Hmmm, collage not loading, lets try a slightly smaller one
And this photo might explain the acrobatics:
There were six Red Kites over Prospect Park, Reading, UK, engaged in something somwhere between playing, dominance displays and out right squabbles. None of the birds fled the scene over the twenty minutes or more they were at it, so I have to assume there was not an serious fight going on!
Canon R5 MkII RF200-800mm lens 1/1250s. ISO 500-640.
The camera was still the right way up at this point...
Bonus - same kite, launching itself into the sky
Nice photo because of the unusual pose + reflection + framing anyway, but a good example of why RAW format is so useful - I'm pretty sure you'd be able to recover the over-exposed areas with the info in a RAW format version (experience suggests at least one stops worth of recovery should be available).
Perhaps a proper Kite photo to compensate, possibly even the same bird.
I think my local Red Kites actively tease the local crows and jackdaws by flying low over "their" woodland. They also seem to attract the fury of Magpies.