Some local species of falcons/hawks

Lovely animals. Sometimes they are pretty cool and allow you to get really close to them. Sometimes they're off before you know it.

Personally i like #3 a lot because of the sharp eye of the bird. I tried really hard for it and i got it right.

All shots cropped and pp in CS5

[bertwert]

Great photos!

[pete-tarmigan]

Some local species of falcons/hawks

They appear to be Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) (Κοινή, Γερακίνα).

[takis63]

Great photos!

Thank you!!!

---------- Post added 01-06-16 at 08:04 PM ----------

They appear to be Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) (Κοινή, Γερακίνα).

I am not a bird specialist but i think you're right.

[Kath]

Personally i like #3 a lot because of the sharp eye of the bird. I tried really hard for it and i got it right.

Nice job!

[takis63]

Nice job!

Thanks!

[rednax]

Some local species of falcons/hawks

Lovely animals. Sometimes they are pretty cool and allow you to get really close to them. Sometimes they're off before you know it.

Personally i like #3 a lot because of the sharp eye of the bird. I tried really hard for it and i got it right.

All shots cropped and pp in CS5

hi, you have to excuse me , but the first one is really funny ! Maybe it´s just me, being an old boarding school people, but this one strongely reminds me of some of the teachers, full of moral judgements and posing just like that... Look at the gaze, the posture...you can allmost hear the cliches dropping out of the beak.. hahaha...great photos though !!! Love´m !! would have loved using the first one in a parodical message some thirty years ago..well, to be honest, more like forty five years...or well öh... fifty...time flies..

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Last edited by rednax; 01-06-2016 at 12:06 PM.

[robgski]

Interesting; European buzzards are similar to North American hawks, same family, different Genus and Species, at first glance, I'd have said it was a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Nice captures, beautiful bird!

[hjoseph7]

What kind of Lens/Camera did you use ?

[bertwert]

What kind of Lens/Camera did you use ?

From the EXIF.
K-50 and Sigma 150-500.

[slowpez]

Nice captures.

[pete-tarmigan]

Interesting; European buzzards are similar to North American hawks, same family, different Genus and Species, at first glance, I'd have said it was a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Nice captures, beautiful bird!

North American soaring "hawks" like Red-tailed "Hawk" are actually in the same genus (Buteo) as European buzzards.

When the English came to North America and saw New World vultures (family Cathartidae), they mistook them for buzzards (family Acciptridae, species in the genus Buteo). When they saw true buzzards like Red-tailed "Hawk" (Buteo jamaicensis) they mistook them for hawks (species in the genus Accipiter like Goshawk A. gentilis and the Sparrowhawk A. nisus of Europe). They also made the same mistake with falcons and harriers, i.e., Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) was widely known as Duck Hawk, Merlin (F. columbarius) was known as Pigeon Hawk, American Kestrel (F. sparverius) was known as Sparrowhawk and Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) was known as Marsh Hawk.

Variations of the word buzzard are also used in French, Spanish, German, and Dutch to name members of the genus Buteo.

There are other misnomers. When the English came to North America they saw troupials (Family Icteridae) and mistook them for a species of European thrush known as Blackbird (Turdidae: Turdus merula). When they saw the true Blackbird's close relative (Turdus migratorius) they named it after the European Robin (Erithacus rubicula). When they saw Parulines (Parulidae), they named them after European warblers (Sylviidae). When they saw buntings (Emberizidae) they named them after true sparrows (Passeridae, e.g., House Sparrow), which until they were introduced by humans, were alien to the New World. When they saw Cardinalines (Cardinalidae) they called them buntings.

Confused?

[stargazer]

Nice shot's. Specially the last one! It looks to me like a "Buse variable" or "Buteo buteo". They are a bit difficult to approach as they hunt by waiting in the top of trees or lamp post's, detecting the urine trail left by country mouses that is reflective in the UV spectre. You can also come across them while they hunt small insects and reptiles in prairies, to do this they will land in open terrain and they "walk" searching for prey.

[waterfall]

Very good BIF captures and the third one is tack sharp.

[takis63]

Interesting; European buzzards are similar to North American hawks, same family, different Genus and Species, at first glance, I'd have said it was a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Nice captures, beautiful bird!

Thank you!!!

---------- Post added 01-08-16 at 11:20 AM ----------

Nice captures.

Thanks!!!

---------- Post added 01-08-16 at 11:22 AM ----------

Very good BIF captures and the third one is tack sharp.

Thank you very much!

---------- Post added 01-08-16 at 11:31 AM ----------

Nice shot's. Specially the last one! It looks to me like a "Buse variable" or "Buteo buteo". They are a bit difficult to approach as they hunt by waiting in the top of trees or lamp post's, detecting the urine trail left by country mouses that is reflective in the UV spectre. You can also come across them while they hunt small insects and reptiles in prairies, to do this they will land in open terrain and they "walk" searching for prey.

Thanks.
You're right about them hunting atop trees and posts. Over here we will usually find them on wooden telephone posts by the road, looking down for prey. So when we spot one, we stop the car a bit down the road and try to approach them. Sometimes they will allow us to get close enough, as in #3. Actually this one dove down to capture something but i think he missed because he came back empty handed. We were there for about a half hour waiting just for that shot, the bird with it's prey, but we lucked out. Maybe next time.

As for the species, local ornithologists identifie them as "buteo buteo"