Swallowtail Kite: I FINALLY GOT ONE!!! One of the most beautiful of the raptors, the Swallowtail kite is known for graceful flight featuring high speed swoops and dives. Recently I...

treadwl Loc: South Florida

I FINALLY GOT ONE!!!

One of the most beautiful of the raptors, the Swallowtail kite is known for graceful flight featuring high speed swoops and dives.
Recently I spotted several of these gracefully bird soaring over the pinelands in the everglades. These two got low enough to be in range of my long lens.

Nikon D800 with 200x400mm lens with TC1.4--hand held to track racing birds.

Thanks for looking.

Larry

Swallowtail KIte soaring over the pines

(Download)

Swallowtail Kite circling at high speed.

(Download)

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Nice job! Must be a difficult bif! Bob

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

treadwl wrote:

...One of the most beautiful of the raptors, the Swallowtail kite is known for graceful flight featuring high speed swoops and dives.......

i had forgotten how beautiful these birds are in flight, thanks

kavner58 Loc: Portland, Oregon

treadwl wrote:

I FINALLY GOT ONE!!!

One of the most beautiful of the raptors, the Swallowtail kite is known for graceful flight featuring high speed swoops and dives.
Recently I spotted several of these gracefully bird soaring over the pinelands in the everglades. These two got low enough to be in range of my long lens.

Nikon D800 with 200x400mm lens with TC1.4--hand held to track racing birds.

Thanks for looking.

Larry

Very impressive - :thumbup:

- AK

Lazy Old Coot Loc: Gainesville, Florida

They are beautiful indeed. they are so aerodynamically clean they seem to be able to do just about anything in the air with little or no effort in their part. About the only time I see them up here in north central Florida is when we take a trip over to Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast. Great shots of a difficult subject. ........ Coot

treadwl wrote:

I FINALLY GOT ONE!!!

One of the most beautiful of the raptors, the Swallowtail kite is known for graceful flight featuring high speed swoops and dives.
Recently I spotted several of these gracefully bird soaring over the pinelands in the everglades. These two got low enough to be in range of my long lens.

Nikon D800 with 200x400mm lens with TC1.4--hand held to track racing birds.

Thanks for looking.

Larry

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Wow - how fantastic!

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Outstanding! (Outflying?)

treadwl Loc: South Florida

BobR wrote:

Nice job! Must be a difficult bif! Bob

Thanks for looking BobR. I must have looked like a crazy person standing out on the edge of the pines and swinging my lens around through the air like a demented fool. I was there for at least 30 minutes. Tracking them was a real challenge. (then there was trying to focus. . .) :thumbup: :thumbup:

Really appreciate you taking the time to look and comment.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

oldtigger wrote:

i had forgotten how beautiful these birds are in flight, thanks

Thanks for looking oldtigger. They are really beautiful and they make flying look to effortless!!! They are soooo fast. I could watch them for hours.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

kavner58 wrote:

Very impressive - :thumbup:

- AK

Thanks for looking. I really appreciate your comment.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Lazy Old Coot wrote:

They are beautiful indeed. they are so aerodynamically clean they seem to be able to do just about anything in the air with little or no effort in their part. About the only time I see them up here in north central Florida is when we take a trip over to Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast. Great shots of a difficult subject. ........ Coot

Glad you liked the shots Old Coot. I don't see them too often but this week I seemed to have gotten into a flock of them. Best of all they hung around for quite some time. Just watching was a real treat. Most of them were way to high for any kind of a shot---but a couple of them made some low swoops. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Thanks so much for commenting.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Linda From Maine wrote:

Wow - how fantastic!

Thanks Linda. It was quite an experience. It is always good to hear from you.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Bob Yankle wrote:

Outstanding! (Outflying?)

Nice wit on the comment Bob. Always good to hear fro m you, Thanks for commenting.

Joe F.N. Loc: Oshawa, Ontario

Congratulations buddy. I know how tough it is to get these. Great work.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Joe F.N. wrote:

Congratulations buddy. I know how tough it is to get these. Great work.

Thanks for the compliment Joe. Had a bunch of shots, but o only a few keepers. Nikon needs to work on their focus tracking system ( :) :) :) :) :) ) Their speed is amazing.