Common Kestrel

[nigelblake]

Hi to you all

Yesterday and today I have been out after Short-eared Owls, the star bird though was this Kestrel which seemed to like hovering near cars, Lens out of sunroof and bingo!, lots of very nice images.

Nigel

[Cindy M]

what a great image Nigel. No bird hovers better than these guys and you captured him well. Good job & good luck with the s.e. owls.

[Johnny1]

Amazing shot Nigel...what more can I say.

[Andrew]

Nice aerial shot, the tail is surprisingly huge when it hovers.

[Reader]

The standard is upheld. Long live the king of photography.

[BirdWatcher]

Oh, lovely shot, that, Nigel!

BirdWatcher

[dylan]

Very well shot Nigel! What sort of lens was you using?

Did you find any Short Eared Owls?

[nigelblake]

Thanks to you all, it was taken with the trusty old D60 and 600mm IS lens, and yes the SEO's did show well too.

Many Thanks again

Nigel

[Gaye Horn]

Nigel that is spectacular.. and now what settings were you using please? I need to pick your brains for these types of shots with the settings.. I do hope that you are not miffed at my asking.
This is really really good.

[bcurrie]

Beautiful capture, Nigel.

[IanF]

Another stunning shot Nigel, wonderful capture :t:

[nigelblake]

exposure was 1/250 at f11 gain at 100asa

[peter hayes]

Nigel, you have done it yet again. Give the rest of us some hope: how many shots do you normally take before you get a cracker like this?

Anyway, thanks a lot for posting your pix - they give the rest of us a standard to aim at.

[Vogelman]

Very impressive pic of this Kestrel, especially considering you were handholding your 600MM out your sunroof!!

Vogelman

[steve_nova]

That is a shot that absolutely anyone would be proud of.

[bluebwatchNC]

Wow,exceptional picture !!!!! I love to see wing shots.

[paula]

What can I say that has not been said before.........Stunning, as usual!

[Paul 42]

What a corker, Nigel!!!! Must be one of my all-time favourite birds. they are as commun as muck round here, but I can still watch them for hours!!! Here in France we call them " le saint esprit", the"holy spirit, for obvious reasons. I'm off to my local park right now to see if "my" Kestrels are about. Thats at least one birder you've got out of the house today!!!!!

[jayhunter]

A really terrific shot Nigel, was the sky really that blue in the Uk in January?

[LuBird]

Beautiful,beautiful photo.It is very pleasurable to see your photos.

[Beverlybaynes]

Stunning! Flight shots are just SO cool!

And nice to see one of 'your' kestrels to compare with 'ours'! It's great fun to find them kiting and hovering in the winter winds (even if I'm freezing my patootie off in the meantime!)

[nigelblake]

Thanks all, and Jayhunter, the sky really was that blue and all else was white with frost.