Ret Kites in Lower Austria

Red Kites and Black Kites are probably one of the birds of prey that are the most cooperative, because they often fly and circulate above me and allow me to take several pictures before they decide to move on. Many other birds of prey directly flee from me as soon as they see me and consider the photographer as a threat. Not the Red Kites, they are very interested in their surroundings and often circle above my head allowing me to take several pictures of them. Also the movement of my Lens to their direction doesn't make them flee like many other birds do.

On my last trip to the northeastern Part of Austria I was again very successful and could take a lot of pictures of these wonderful birds. Due to the perfect habitat there with a lot of meadows and also wetlands you can find red kites as well as black kites there. I like both of them and I have to admit that I am always happy when I see one of them.

Red Kite gliding above my head. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/2000 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Length	600 mm
Time	02:11 am
ISO	800

The red Kites hunt mice in the wide grasslands there and one thing that is very nice to watch every time is when the farmer is driving with it's tractor to mow the grass, some of the kites circle above the field to be the first to profit from the meal they are provided by the tractor. Red kites are pretty seldom birds here in Austria and only a few of them breed here, but there is a bigger population in Czech Republic and therefore the region at the border to the Czech Republic is a good place to watch them since a lot of them often come to visit the meadows here in Austria for hunting.

Whenever I go for a photography trip to the northeastern Part of Austria the Red Kites are one of the main birds on my Photography List, since it is a pretty seldom bird but when I am able to spot it I often can take some amazing pictures due to the curiosity of the bird that keeps them flying above the heads of visitors to inspect them further.

Did it spot a prey? Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/2000 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Length	600 mm
Time	02:11 am
ISO	800

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who don't appreciate birds of prey so much and there are more and more cases where birds are poisoned and this makes me very sad and also angry. Why would you poison such a beautiful and seldom creature? It helps to keep the fields free of mice and is a pretty useful predator in my eyes but still there are some people who don't understand this and poison or hunt such beautiful birds. And nowadays also more and more "hunters" - I really don't want to call them hunters because they are not caring for the animals and their only intention is to shoot them.

In my opinion a forest ranger and hunter has to care about the animals in their hunting ground and not only shoot them. Of course if they find a ill animal it should be their task to care about the situation but just killing to have a trophy is not the way this is meant to be. My grandfather was a forest ranger and he was only shooting the ill and weak animals to keep the population healthy and stable.

When I hear stories like this where an imperial eagle was shot it makes me always very sad.

Red kite spreading it's wings. Picture: Florian Glechner.