Graceful – Weekly Photo Challenge

When I think of gracefulness, I would think of the beauty of movement or the strength and control in that movement. When looking at a ballet dancer, or belly dancer for that matter, the amount of skill or training is often overlooked in the end result. A bird of prey uses tiny graceful movements to unleash it’s power, the resulting grace is undeniable.

White Tailed Sea Eagle (I think), Burren Birds of Prey Centre, Ireland

This bird was HUGE, but it swooped in from the far hillside with an overwhelming feeling of grace. Then at the last second, with a powerful flick of it’s wings, lifted over my head to perch at the back of the arena.

I know a lot of people don’t like to see captive animals, but in my opinion, you get the feeling these birds don’t realise they have been raised in captivity. I was happy to see them. If it hadn’t been for this bird I would never have known a Bird of Prey’s head is level with it’s chest in flight. In my mind, it would be a straight line along it’s back to it’s head. Every day’s a school day!