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All around us the birds seemed to be saying ‘thank you’.

We were at Victorian wetlands on the final Sunday of the duck shooting season. We saw two shooters ambling along the road with their shotguns over their shoulders and found evidence of other shooters (spent cartridges and feathers mainly) but in other respects the day was amazing, with Welcome Swallows hawking for insects beside us and a Grey Shrike-thrush landing on the open window sill of my car and singing so loudly, it was remarkably wonderful. And then there was this Black-shouldered Kite that hovered above me until my arms ached from hand-holding my long lens.

I’m sharing heaps of photographs of this magnificent bird as each shot shows something different in the tilt of its head, the look in its eye, the shape of its wings, the furl of its primaries and the fanning of its tail. I just couldn’t work out which shot I liked the best.

As we headed out to western Victoria we drove through some extremely heavy rain and it’s clear from the kite’s underparts that its feathers are wet where it had landed to capture a recent feed. They eat mice, heaps of mice, but also grasshoppers and other critters of a similar size. I have shared photographs of them eating mice while perched but they often eat insects on the wing.

I love the tilt of its head in the shot above and the way its holding its wings.

And in this shot its the clarity of the colour variation in its wings along with the way it has fanned its tail.

It was quite challenging to get the exposure right for a white bird against a cloudy sky but I think the high key drama works well to emphasise the blacks and greys, and piercing eyes, of this raptor.

Only three more to go! Watching this amazing bird use its feather to hold its place in the air, was truly awe-inspiring. It seemed to be connecting with me in a remarkable way. It made eye-contact, a lot. It hovered close to me, flew away and returned almost immediately.

I’ve cropped in with this shot to show more detail of its fierce looking bill and stunning eye. Although the light was pretty poor there was just enough for a catchlight.

Shivers of loveliness.

Happy birding, Kim

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