TomKal foto

Red-footed Falcon  finally comes to my gallery!  Finally, because it has been in my photographic plans for years, but in Poland it is difficult to find good pictures of this beautiful falcon. It doesn't nest in our country, and we only have the pleasure to observe it during its migration. The presented pictures were taken in Hungary. We have to give credit to our Hungarian organizers, that they have created conditions for observing and photographing Red-footed Falkons. Falkons shelters are the rooms located at the height of several meters, where Falkons, Kestrels and Jackdaws nest boxes are located at a distance of several meters from photographers. In the distance of about 10 meters from one of the hatcheries there is also a nesting box of a Little Owl. It is quite amazing to see such a small colony of Red fotted Falcons, Kestrels, Jackdaws, and Little Owl with camouflaged photographers inside. I spent about 30 hours among them and I could observe their courtship, mating behavior and fights for the nest box between them and Jackdaws or Kestrels. Kestrels and Jackdaws are the biggest of Red footed Falkons, but there were many fights. They tried their strength and abilities in such a determined way, that after one of the fights with Jackdaws I thought that the male of Red-footed Falkon will not come out of it whole. The beginning of May was the period of courting and copulation of Red footed Falkons. It wasn't hard to get photos of these bird close-ups, provided the birds weren't facing away from us. I have also added a recording of the Red-footed Falkon soundtrack, which was not difficult to find. Females are almost constantly making voices, squeaking and repeating. The males do the same, but sometimes they also make a voice like that of a Eurasian Wryneck. The females were constantly organizing the males' time. Sitting on a stick, the male was often chased away by the female to take up the hunt. After dropping from the twig he would go hunting. After some time he would return with a small rodent or larger insect. The female would immediately pick up the prey and begin eating it. Here followed a moment of silence, the male could rest during her meal, and she herself did not make a sound. After eating she immediately sat on her favourite branch in a characteristic way showing the male that she is ready to copulation. This was accompanied by a characteristic squeaking sound and the male had no choice but to approach the female and the copulation began. And so we can say for most of the day. The static pictures of birds sitting on the branches or copulating were not a problem. The dynamic ones in flight were a challenge. Falcons, as falcons, can move very dynamically. This was the first difficulty of taking pictures of birds in flight. The second problem was the glass, or rather the mirror, separating us from the birds. The quality of the glass was not the worst, but it slowed down autofocus and the pictures taken from a considerable angle were usually discarded. However, out of hundreds of attempts we managed to take few pictures showing beautiful silhouette of a falcon in flight. They had to be made - this is what we admire them for!