Posted by John Robinson on April 19, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Buzzard Baited with tied down rabbit.
Taken out of the back of my garden garage.
D100 Sigma 100-300mm.
800 ISO
125th f11
Poor bunny !
( road kill - nearly got run over myself picking it up !! )
Processed in Paint Shop Pro. not a lot done.Noise reduction in neat image
How lucky are you to have these coming down behind your garage. Cracking shot. These birds are proving very difficult to get images of for me, I'm using same technique with the road kill, so hopefully my luck might change.
Regards
Rob
Posted by John Robinson on April 19, 2008 at 5:31 PM
Rob
Believe me they are nervous so and so's. They dont even like the internal focus and zoom on the Sigma 300mm> They can see the internal movement. If you look into a lens and move the zoom you'll see what I mean !
Best of luck
JohnR
Posted by Nigel Blake on April 19, 2008 at 6:07 PM
This has an awful yellow colour cast across the left 2/3rds of the frame and shows some bad colour noise on the bird itself John! and I can't quite make out why the top of the Rabbit looks like its laying on its side while the bottom appears to be laying on its back as well.
Agree with Nigel, John. Strange how it's on part of the image
Posted by John Robinson on April 20, 2008 at 12:38 AM
I agree about the colour cast - but then colour has always been a problem with me as I am partly colour blind.They were taken on a terrible day and I think I may have tried to brighten it up too much.
This repost is from the same sequence un processed.
As a matter of interest when you bait out with a rabbit if you haven't done it before, you wire it down around the head or behind the head and over the front feet. You then turn the body over to expose the white underside as much as possible. They find it better that way. Simple really.
JohnR
Posted by Nigel Blake on April 20, 2008 at 2:34 AM
Good to see the Buzzard has grown its other leg back in this shot John!
My local Buzzard has an uncanny ability to drop straight on to earthworms from hundreds of feet up, and never has a problem finding staked out bunnies.
Posted by Andy Astbury on April 20, 2008 at 4:17 AM
When I saw the title I was wondering how it would fit in the pool John
Prefer the second image overall but like the processing better on the first - but both a great shots of my favourite UK raptor
Posted by John Robinson on April 20, 2008 at 4:44 AM
Thanks for your interest.
No leg grown back - the bird has moved. The bird in the first picture has two also.
I would also point out the stake out was not just for Buzzards.
JohnR
Posted by Austin Thomas on April 20, 2008 at 5:16 AM
Hi John,
Very interesting behavior pictures and having never seen one in my back garden before I'd be delighted to encourage them down from the skies.
Cheers
Austin
Posted by Paul Inglis on April 20, 2008 at 7:06 AM
Rabbit looks like its catching some zzzzzzzz's, I havent seen 1 rabbit in Switzerland and not for the trying-hares yes but rare but rabbits no-will have to stake out a pine martin as you see them as road kill
One i would like to have
Tried this once and failed miserably after a 12 hour stint in the hide, so can appreciate how tricky these birds can be at times.
Very much like the first image with the buzzard's open beak and the way he's leaning forward over his meal.
Very strange about the colour issue, I could understand if the whole image had taken on a yellow cast, but can't understand why only two-thirds of the frame has been affected. Looks as though it's two completely different white balance settings.
No big deal, and easy enough to rectify, I'm sure, with a re-conversion.
Interesting reading about the wire and the laying position of the Rabbit, I dont tie them down but I do lay them on their back but I was also told to slit them down the middle, which is what I do, perhaps I should'nt do this and just leave them on their backs????
Regards
Rob
Posted by John Robinson on April 20, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Rob
Not sure about with Buzzards but I,ve always just tied them like I described. I wonder if slitting them would bring the foxes in earlier. They usually pinch my rabbits anyway. I We.ve found chicks and mincemeat are about the best for Buzzards.
The main reason for exposing the white in my case is for Ravens which have a regular high flight path about a kilometer either side of the farm.
One day maybe ! A deer carcass would be good !
Cheers
John
Discussion
15 repliesTaken out of the back of my garden garage.
D100 Sigma 100-300mm.
800 ISO
125th f11
Poor bunny !
( road kill - nearly got run over myself picking it up !! )
Processed in Paint Shop Pro. not a lot done.Noise reduction in neat image
Comments welcome.
Cheers
JohnR
How lucky are you to have these coming down behind your garage. Cracking shot. These birds are proving very difficult to get images of for me, I'm using same technique with the road kill, so hopefully my luck might change.
Regards
Rob
Believe me they are nervous so and so's. They dont even like the internal focus and zoom on the Sigma 300mm> They can see the internal movement. If you look into a lens and move the zoom you'll see what I mean !
Best of luck
JohnR
This repost is from the same sequence un processed.
As a matter of interest when you bait out with a rabbit if you haven't done it before, you wire it down around the head or behind the head and over the front feet. You then turn the body over to expose the white underside as much as possible. They find it better that way. Simple really.
JohnR
My local Buzzard has an uncanny ability to drop straight on to earthworms from hundreds of feet up, and never has a problem finding staked out bunnies.
Tim
Prefer the second image overall but like the processing better on the first - but both a great shots of my favourite UK raptor
No leg grown back - the bird has moved. The bird in the first picture has two also.
I would also point out the stake out was not just for Buzzards.
JohnR
Very interesting behavior pictures and having never seen one in my back garden before I'd be delighted to encourage them down from the skies.
Cheers
Austin
Beautiful bird! Very interesting post!
One i would like to have
Dave
Very much like the first image with the buzzard's open beak and the way he's leaning forward over his meal.
Very strange about the colour issue, I could understand if the whole image had taken on a yellow cast, but can't understand why only two-thirds of the frame has been affected. Looks as though it's two completely different white balance settings.
No big deal, and easy enough to rectify, I'm sure, with a re-conversion.
Interesting reading about the wire and the laying position of the Rabbit, I dont tie them down but I do lay them on their back but I was also told to slit them down the middle, which is what I do, perhaps I should'nt do this and just leave them on their backs????
Regards
Rob
Not sure about with Buzzards but I,ve always just tied them like I described. I wonder if slitting them would bring the foxes in earlier. They usually pinch my rabbits anyway. I We.ve found chicks and mincemeat are about the best for Buzzards.
The main reason for exposing the white in my case is for Ravens which have a regular high flight path about a kilometer either side of the farm.
One day maybe ! A deer carcass would be good !
Cheers
John