Red Kites

Reading the newspaper in the conservatory after breakfast I was, at the same time, keeping an eye on a Red Kite perched at the top of tree about 150 yards away.  The tree overlooks a farmer's field, long neglected, and now over-run with rabbits.  The perch seems to be a favourite because yesterday I saw two kites jostling for the same position.  Interestingly, the Kite seems to tolerate pigeons using the same vantage point but not its fellow species.  By remarkable coincidence, the Nature Notes in the Times today, Derwent May talks about Kites, specifically the much rarer Black Kite but this was definitely a red variety.  A photo opportunity was too good to miss so here is my effort.  I used a tripod and zoom lens, the equivalent of about 600 mm on my 4/3 Olympus E3. I took the shot at 1/250 at F6.3. I cropped the image in Photoshop and adjusted the exposure slightly, compensating the bright, but featureless, sky with a graduated filter.