[hotspur (Chris)]

Every now and again,one gets lucky in natural history photography,and this afternoon,I had a real win-a capture of a peregrine falcon.

Those here that are into natural history studies,will be well aware of hoe difficult it is to get close to a raptor in the wild,let alone the peregrine falcon.

These are said to be legendary-certainly in speed,and rarity.

Late today I was in the observatory,I had the 50D on the Vixen refractor in preparation for another lunar plane landing,When I saw the falcon land in a tree a kilometre away-I saw the area of the tree it landed in.So took a photo with my 450D and L 400.I quickly confirmed it was a peregrine,So left the observatory and quickly headed towards the large gum tree.

I really did not think I would get close befor it flew away.I took a few snaps as I went,I got very close to the tree-he was still there.

So carefully selected settings and took the best shots I could.

Here are two images-some slight PP and size reduction,the third is as it came out of camera.

I hope some other people enjoy these images of this amazing bird.

Chris

PS(I have the raw files so I might get a better PP image in time),these images lack a bit of quality as I have reduced the size abit.

Thanks for looking.