Birds of Prey

Black-shouldered Kite – hovering in a 20 knot wind at the top of a cliff edge. Photo taken at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Powerful Owl – with its prey, a Ringtail-Possum. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

White-bellied Sea Eagle chasing an Eastern Osprey in pursuit of the fish in the latter bird’s talons. Photo taken at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – readying its wings for flight. Photo taken at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Buzzard (Common?) – Photo taken on one of the many very narrow lanes of Pembrokeshire, South Wales.

Powerful Owl – I’ve seen them perched in trees with a captured possum, but this one seems to have caught a cockatoo, a sizeable bird. Photo taken on the North Shore, Sydney.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle – being chased by a much smaller Australian Magpie. Its talons were quickly lowered and flexed as the brave and determined Magpie got closer. Photo taken on the coast at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – the moment of take-off. Photo taken on the coast at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Black-shouldered Kite – Photo taken at bass Point, Shellharbour, south of Wollongong, New South Wales.

Eastern Osprey – It’s a very satisfying feeling when your subject looks straight into the camera lens, particularly when it’s a majestic raptor soaring 20m above my head. Photo taken on the coast at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Whistling Kite – circling overhead at the Hunter Wetlands Centre, Newcastle, New South Wales.

Australian Hobby – stretching its wing before flight. Photo taken on the coast in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Australian Hobby – just caught a Spotted Pardelote in its talons. Photo taken on the coast in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Southern Boobook – the most common and smallest owl in Australia, standing approx 30cm tall. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Southern Boobook – the most common owl and smallest owl in Australia, standing approx 30cm tall. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – performing a very low fly past above the shallow reef at low tide. Photo taken at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Nankeen Kestrel – hovering and hunting, near Belambi Beach, Wollongong, New South Wales.

Brahminy Kite – this was one of a pair soaring over the estuary in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Eastern Osprey – taking a bath in the shallows at low tide. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – taking off after its bath. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Sea Eagle – soaring overhead and hunting over the mangrove and saltmarsh areas. Photo taken at Stockton Bridge Sandspit, Newcastle, New South Wales

Eastern Osprey – Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Nankeen Kestrel – recently fledged chick calling out to a parent to feed it! Photo taken at Long Reef golf course, Dee Why, Sydney.

Nankeen Kestrel – Parent feeding a recently fledged chick on the golf course. Photo taken at Long Reef, Dee Why, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – This image shows just how well camouflaged this bird is when flying low over a shallow reef hunting for fish. Photo taken at Dee Why, Sydney

Black-shouldered Kite – This raptor was very accommodating in allowing me to move from behind it to in front to capture much better images! Photo taken at Central Coast Wetlands, Tuggerah, New South Wales.

Powerful Owl – with a Brush-tail Possum it has caught. Photo taken in very low light conditions in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Powerful Owl (juvenile) – Portrait taken in Lane Cove National park, Sydney.

Black Kite – Photo taken at the Kielder Birds of Prey Centre, Northumberland, UK, a favourite place to visit when I’m visiting family.

Nankeen Kestrel – Photo taken near Wollongong, New South Wales.

Nankeen Kestrel – Portrait taken near Wollongong, New South Wales.

Tawny Frogmouth – Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Peregrine Falcon – Photo taken on the Northern Beaches, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – carrying a half eaten fish which I had watched being torn apart. It seems to be trying to continue eating mid-flight. Lighting was spectacular as the sun was setting. Photo taken near Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – I count myself very fortunate to have been able to spend 1.5 hours about 15-20m from this raptor. It was unperturbed by kayakers and walkers…and me. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – I thought it was about to drop the 3 to 4m down into the river at this point. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – 95% of the time it spent preening and scanning the river for fish. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – it was only in the last minute that I was able to capture the bird readying itself for flight. Spectacular! Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – unfortunately it did not catch any fish. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – I enjoyed its wing show before flying off down the river. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – carrying a half eaten fish. Photo taken near Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – just taking off. Photo taken near Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – Photo taken near Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Eastern Osprey – Photo series taken by Lane Cove River, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney. I heard a loud splash in the river and turned to see this bird flying up to the branch. I assume this posture was to dry its wings for a few seconds before…

…turning around and diving back down to the river. This time it caught a fish and flew past me, unfortunately behind some trees so I couldn’t take photos.

When I caught up with the Osprey further down the river it had almost eaten the fish and all that was visible was the tail.

Powerful Owl Family – One adult owl was spotted and then its partner. A day or two later one chick was spotted and then another the next day. Finally, all four owls were seen together as a family. This was an exciting first for me as I had never seen any Powerful Owls before! Some of the photos are slightly grainy as they were taken in rather dark situations amidst dense foliage. Others are high up in tree tops with best ones at eye level in trees on sloping ground. Photo series taken in Lane Cove, Sydney.

Square-tailed Kite (?) – I had been watching this raptor flying overhead while keeping my eye on another bird perched on the bough of a tree. As it came in to land through the tangle of twigs I realised they were most likely related – parent-juvenile? They both then took off. Photo taken at Pilot Beach, Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

Square-tailed Kite (?) – Photos taken at Pilot Beach, Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

Sea Eagles (White-bellied) – Hours of patience didn’t pay off here. I was too far away with a steep drop between me and the Sea Eagles.

Sea Eagles (White-bellied) – As some Blue-faced Honeyeaters started flying around the Sea Eagles I was concerned as to what might happen. In fact, nothing!

Australia Sea Eagle (White-bellied) – Photo series taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney. Sometimes it is impossible to control the background foliage when action like this happens. This was a very lucky encounter with this large raptor as it careened into a large tree right above my head while being chased by squawking crows…

…the mobbing by the crows continued for two or three minutes as the sea eagle flapped around snapping back …

…eventually the sea eagle had had enough and turned to take off…

…much to my surprise the raptor dived straight towards me pursued by a crow…

…swooped over my head, when I instinctively ducked…

…as the noisy chase continued until I lost sight of the drama over the tree tops.

The encounter was very exciting but I acknowledge that the photography was challenging against the late afternoon light and high up in a tree amidst foliage background. At least I managed to capture a few moments of the event.

Two Sea Eagles were soaring overhead in a very strong wind. As they passed over the cliff edge they quickly rose on the updraft. Photo taken at Middle Head, Sydney Harbour.

Nankeen Kestrel – Photo above taken in Gerringong. Photo series below taken over vegetation and sand dunes just north of Wollongong, New South Wales. The kestrels were not intimated by the many people nearby, or me beneath them. It even flew down onto rocks just a few metres in front of me. The only creature it caught while I watched was a small beetle, seen in the bird’s beak in one of the images.

Peregrine Falcon – photo taken from quite a distance away on the Northern beaches area of Sydney.

Peregrine Falcon – looking down onto the ocean, photo taken from quite a distance away, on the Northern beaches area of Sydney.

Peregrine Falcon – flying at speed overhead. Photo taken on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.

Peregrine Falcons – juveniles playing together and probably learning to attack prey in mid-flight. Photo taken on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.

Pacific Baza – giving me a cheeky wave with one foot and a yellow-eyed stare as it devours a large green insect. It has very distinctive banding across its breast, a prominent crest and rather bulging eyes. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Pacific Baza – with a large green insect insect in its beak. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Pacific Baza – having just taken off. Photo taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Black Kite – a spectacular raptor in flight. Photo taken at Kielder Bird of Prey Centre, Kielder, Northumberland, UK. Every time I spend time in the UK I visit this centre. It’s such a treat to see such beautiful birds displaying their flight behaviour.