Seeing a bird flying is simply amazing. This is one thing that man can't do it, without a plane.
Seeing a bird of prey flying hasn't price. It's so elegant, powerful and majestic that I could stay many hours admiring them. Italy is a good place for raptors, because there are many different habitats where to live and grow their chicks, or simply for living, although we have many hunters that kill them, only for fun. Every time they say "it's a sport". And every time I ask myself if I can start a new sport: the manhunting!!
Anyway, it's better watching some photo of one of my favourite bird of prey: the common buzzard.
Pictures have taken in the same place where this couple live and breed their chicks, year by year.
During the waiting, I was following its movement when it started to fly in my direction. Fortunately, it came quite slow and low so I could take every single moment, but I put only the last part of the sequence.
The Sun had risen, in fact the field in the distance was illuminated, but not the perch where the buzzard was arriving, so in the whole image sequence, it was in the shadow.
Instead in the last image the Sun was coming, so illuminating its head.
And after the coronavirus, finally, arrive the little owls.
It's been a long time since the last time I've seen and photographed them, so I'm very happy now, first of all, because they're still there, in their nest, but I didn't see them. Maybe they stayed hide or they were somewhere, I can't be sure, but knowing that they are fine I'm more quiet.
The session has started, as always, at night and the first pictures are quite dark:
but waiting patiently, the Sun arrives and it lights the little owl:
From this point the situation changes a bit, because they get more active, flying often from a perch to another, making me quite busy trying to take some pictures during their flight. In these two photos the little owl start flying from the same perch, but in one occasion had a prey:
Where finally it eats their prey:
In two occasions they scared for some grey-crows flying too close their nest, so they were really worried, and sometimes they flew away, but coming back almost soon.
So, after some hours with their company, I can perhaps say that the coronavirus is going away.
Yes, living with the coronavirus is really frustrating and quite challenging. It's like to be in war where there was the curfew. In fact, in these days our mayor of the city has told us we can't go out from our houses, even for a walk alone in order to be safer and to not infect anyone. It's hard to find someone walking in the streets. You can only go to work or for buying some food in a supermarket, anything else.
At the moment in Sardinia the situation is pretty quiet. We don't have many people infected by the virus, even though some new contagious happens. But in the north of Italy the situation is really dramatic, and they're dying many people every day. The most are elderly people, maybe with other pathologies too, but knowing that so far there isn't yet a vaccine for the virus, is discouraging. For now we can only stay far from the others, even when we are in a supermarket and it's desirable using a mask to avoid any issue.
I'm still working because our company don't have a particular problem for our customers, and we don't have public in our offices. Furthermore, we can work at home using the company's net to use our personal computer from home, and it's good for who have children and don't have any particular job to do or finish.
Thinking about the worldwide situation I'm a bit worried. I think the best thing would be having a vaccine, but at the end only the rich will have it soon, of course after governments, army, doctors and so on. And for the poor countries what'll happen? If in China are dead thousand people, and can't think how many people will die in Africa.
I hope this virus is only a chance and not made with a precise purpose like someone is telling, even though I hope in better.
Finally, after almost three months due to the coronavirus, I've checked my photographic blind. Fortunately everything was fine, so I hadn't to fix anything, like the camouflage net, or some perch. But the best thing has been seeing the buzzards flying and then going in the nest. Yes, they were in the nest too, even though I don't know if there were some chicks, maybe only the eggs.
Then I finded out the red woodpecker nest!! After hearing one of them tap in a tree, I've seen it enter into a hole, signs that they are also nesting.
And for last but not least, I've seen the old little owls again, after several absence months. In the n,est there were two adults and....a Sardinian partridge!! What strange meeting. Surely the little owls were controlling the partridge to avoid something bad to their chicks.
Now I'll have to organize myself in order to follow everything: red woodpecker, buzzards and the little owls.
Yesterday I didn't have so much time, so I stayed there only for a while and I didn't see or hear the peregrine falcon, so I can't say anything about them, but I hope to figure out soon something.
As you know, I've always been really fascinated by raptors and the common buzzard is one of my favourite birds of prey. In my photographic blind it's quite easy to take some pictures of them, as this time. But there're some considerations to do. During the wait I heard the little owls' voices, despite I haven't seen them anymore in their nest. Maybe, and I hope so much, that they have found a new nest for their breeding season. The same for the peregrine falcons, that I was hearing during the photographic session, but I couldn't understand from they came. Finally, looking outside the blind I saw them flying near a group of trees, pretty far from their "house", perhaps they were hunting or simply they were going somewhere, but I can't know. Before going home, I went to check their house; I mean the mountain where they make the nest. Actually I don't know where's exactly the nest, so I can only guessing where it is. Looking with a spotting-scope I saw only one of them: it was on a rock formation, maybe waiting for its mate, or taking a sunbath, who knows.
This year I going to try to observe the Peregrine falcons using my portable blind, because I've put a perch and I want see if they go there. I know, it'll be an hard work, but it's the only way to not be seen.
Coming back to our buzzard, I took some pictures, like these ones:
I hope you enjoy watching these pictures, even because I hope these pictures are more interesting of I've written before!!