Steppe Buzzard

I spotted this bird sitting on the post in the middle of the picture. Stopped the car, hoping against hope that the bird wouldn’t fly away. Opened the window. Pointed the camera at the bird, still sitting on the post, and zoomed in. Pressed the button. At that exact moment, he (she?) took off...lucky shot!

Near Jermuk, Armenia.

Don’t be confused by the wires – they actually belong to another post considerably further away. Pure coincidence that it’s in line with the nearer post, which is no longer in use and has no wires.

We actually saw quite a lot of these in Armenia – maybe fifteen or twenty – but this was the only one I got a decent shot of. Quite a few of them were sitting in trees by the road between Spitak and Gyumri, looking very bedraggled and sorry for themselves. It was pouring with rain that day. But they still saw fit to fly off as soon as I stopped the car, before I got a chance to snap them.

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