"White" Leucistic Red Kite from Gigrin

grumpybadger

grumpybadger

Alan Rickman
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Paul Beastall
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Well, yesterday was wet in East Anglia so we did what any normal, self respecting people would do on a bank holiday weekend and drove to the sunshine. This time, it was the 370 mile round trip to Gigrin Farm in Powys for the red kite feeding station.

My plan was to focus on shots with the kites against background, eating on the wing and general behaviour as I have a fair number of (what I think are) pretty reasonable in flight portraits. It was also a chance to experiment with fill flash, using a 550EX mounted on a Wimberley flash bracket with a Kirk Better Beamer, set to -1 1/3 stops.

While we were there, we were surprised to see a leucistic (white) kite. This is much less white than the original from 2004 so I presume it is one off the offspring from the original with weaker leucistic tendancies.

1. Airbourne
XE7K7463.jpg


2. Incoming
XE7K7527.jpg


3. More flight
XE7K7459.jpg


4. About to pick up
XE7K7525.jpg


5. Got it!
XE7K7530.jpg


6. Checking
XE7K7521.jpg


All taken with EOS-1Ds Mk II, 500 f/4L IS + 1.4x, tripod, Wimberley, fill flash

I apologise in advance for the glut of kite shots - there will be more!

All feedback appreciated

Thanks

Paul
 
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What a beautiful bird, super shots too Paul. I really like the shape you caught in shot 2. (y)
 
Thanks all. There's more of the "normal" kites likely over the next couple of days.

Jeff - from what I can see from the tags, this is a 2005 bird and the original is a 2003, so offspring feels likely to me. He looked very "tatty" so I'm not sure if he's getting grief from the other birds or just in moult...
 
All good but I really like #2 - probably because of the shape and the way the bird is coming towards you makes for a more unique shot (y)
 
Great set Paul! Can't wait to see the rest.

I still need to go myself down there someday.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

tiny tim said:
i really love those shots but its a shame about the tags on them
Click to expand...

I plan to remove the tags in Photoshop but haven't got round to it yet. However, it is how the birds are and so we probably have to accept it.

stifler said:
Nice set paul (y) hope i can do just as well we go there. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken, thought I'd get some practice in! What I'm not showing is the several hundred that got away...

Paul
 
Great shots Paul 2 and 4 for me as well, talking about Luecistic you should have a peep at my post on the Birds forum strange Chaffinch :)
 
Great set mate (y) super sharp well worth the effort . Went 9 times last year so can appreciate how hard it is to get these shots right. Never got to see the Leucistic . The tower makes a big difference.Look's like you had some good light which help's . :clap::clap:
 
Just for your information, Paul, I sometimes see a very pale red kite from my house near Aberystwyth. It's quite a lot paler than the one in your pics and may be the one you refer to.

As we live near the Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian feeding station, I suspect the very pale bird may be seen there during the winter.

Just as a matter of interest, do you know if there's any truth in the idea that leucistic birds may not be able to reproduce?
 
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