Bird of Prey workshop Part 2

At the end of Part 1 I left you on the way to lunch. Gerda, a female 3/4 Gyr 1/4 Sakker falcon was about to have a bath. So we got down on our bellies to get as low as possible in the hope she would throw up some droplets. Some of you have already critiqued this photo – although AJ told us to leave space for the wings, I still managed to clip them, so went for a radical crop instead.

After lunch we had time with Dotty, a male African Spotted Eagle Owl – named for the spots on his tail. He was a little grumpy initially and stomped around on the ground.

But before long Andrew had him eating out of his hand and flying to the required post

and demonstrating how he gets through small apertures (see what I did  ) look at the concentration in his eyes!

He could also pose beautifully

Fletcher, the tawny owl is so named as he was born in a prison. there’s a lovely black corrugated barn against which we were able to photograph him, and the autumn colours were a perfect complement

And there was another bush for him to clamber into, with some more lovely colours.

The new wall was perfect for him too.

Nipper is a 5 month old male kestrel, yes, he nips fingers! I tried both environmental and close up shots

And failed miserably at any shots of him flying, but I’m happy enough with these for now – another good excuse to go back and try flight shots again

We then finished the afternoon with Cheese and Pickles, what could be more perfect than that!

Cheese and pickles are 2 year old Burrowing Owls. I struggled with exposure. As you can see, the light was pretty horrible all day and they were running around on the ground in front of the log and then jumping on to it.

But they are oh so cute, even when running up your leg as you are lying down waiting for them to appear.

Once again, if you are still with me, thanks for reading.

Those of you who have not been on one of the BoP workshops, I can highly recommend this one.  Andrew and Duncan place the birds in the best photographic position – and even build walls especially for us. But the best thing is they clearly love the birds and they are in superb condition. Then of course you get the expertise of the dynamic duo that is Andrew and Jon – what more could you ask for.