Pick me up

If the sky above you
Should turn dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together and call my name out loud
And soon I will be knocking upon your door.
You just call out my name and you know where ever I am
Ill come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you got to do is call
And Ill be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shakespeare it ain't but its still a great song by James Taylor.

Life is pretty hard at present. Not, job-loss, lost the shirt on mini-bonds type stuff, but just unrelenting grind and endless frustration trying to find somewhere to retire to that I can afford type stuff. Long hours at work and very little down time. Even the last few birding outings have been pretty disappointing. So this buzzard was a real tonic (without the gin) this afternoon. The kites are regularly wheeling around, having fun and showing off. A trio of birds was cavorting in front of me in the soft afternoon sun when I suddenly realised that one was a buzzard and the other two were giving it a hard time, trying to drive it away. I ran for the camera and fired off half a dozen frames. Two were ok and here they are, the first banking towards me and then directly overhead. Direct overhead shots don't work too well but at least this has some semblance of eye contact. I felt a lot better for seeing Buteo buteo (so good they named it twice!). This buteo is japonicus whitish below with a dark belly patch and a pale unmarked tail. (If you click on the images you get better sized ones.) So it was the buzzard that knocked on my metaphorical door today and I am very grateful.

As a postscript, and assuming you can spot four pictures not two, the bird came round again and performed again. Bravo!