#pinole

White-tailed Kites - The Ritual by Zed Via Flickr: The ritual went on for almost twenty minutes. The mated pair had returned to the site of last year's nest and resumed their annual courting ritual in dramatic fashion. I watched in stunned silence while the Kites soared with feet outstretched, circling each other, occasionally locking talons and spinning into a free fall, all the while chirping and crackling like objects being thrown into an electrified fence. It was gloomy and overcast that day and I had to shoot fast to freeze the action, but I felt fortunate to witness such a strange, magnificent ritual and did my best to capture a few frames without disturbing their interactions.