BOP photos

Here are photos of the more photogenic but sadly less rare raptors from yesterday with a couple of pics from today. The Honey Buzzard sighting was very interesting. I wrote that he was not near his nest (not that I knew where the nest was) when he was calling but that looks not to be true. Upon looking at my photos I see that when he flew over me he was carry a disc of wasp cake but when he returned only 7 minutes later (which is when he started calling) he was empty taloned. This surely means that he delivered the food to young (in a nest) only 3 minutes flight away and he was not flying fast either. Neither was he flying towards dense forest and although he disappeared for me due to a line of trees I think the nest must be in one of a couple of low lying woods. Today the same male appeared from the same direction (although quite high up) but dedicated watching revealed no other sightings or clues as to where the nest is.

Two male Goshawks were also interacting yesterday – one looks to be an adult male and the other a 3cy male which is perhaps trying to muscle in on a territory.

An adult and juv Hobby were also interacting with each other and a Sparrowhawk high over the lake and it is unknown whether these were from the local family or from further away.

male Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) with a disc of wasp comb in its talons

and 7 minutes later without

here he is straining his neck as he had an Osprey, a Common Buzzard and perhaps most important a Goshawk to be aware of

his beak is open and he was calling

performing contortions

the same bird today. In the field in challenging light I thought this was a female but it can be seen to be the same male

Common Buzzard (musvåk) - a moulting adult

Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) - there are  a number of juvenile birds around that have fun practicing their hunting skills of anything no matter size

another bird

a male Goshawk (hønsehauk) with a Wood Pigeon (ringdue). This bird has a mix of old and new feathers and is a 3cy

this is probably the same bird but taken today, whereas other picture was taken yesterday

2 male Goshawks together yesterday

the closer bird is the presumed 3cy whereas the bird on the left is an adult. Note how it has the white undertail covert feathers puffed out which normally happens during display

adult above

Osprey (fiskeørn) - adult male

juvenile Hobby (lerkefalk) left sparring with one of its parents

the same juvenile, aged by the absence of red trousers

and here the youngster is sparing with a young Sparrowhawk

adult Hobby with its red trousers

Nutcrackers (nøttekråke) are regularly to be seen flying high overhead with their crops full of nuts. They fly many, many kilometres from the city into the forest where they store the nuts for winter consumptions

the fields are rather disappointing but there a few Yellow Wagtails (gulerle)