András Kovács
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Since 1985 when observing a pair of Saker Falcons and their chicks for a week with friends as volunteer guards in the Bükk Mountains, Hungary, I have been fascinated by birds of prey. I have spent countless days in Hungary and abroad watching, monitoring, and doing active conservation of, raptors in the last 25 years.
I started taking photos of birds of prey in 2000, but the real break-through came in 2004 when I switched to digital photography using a Canon SLR. Since then I have been using Canon equipment.
I am not a professional photographer so I am grateful for every minute I can spend with raptor photography, especially to my family, for understanding me as I live quite often in another world with birds.
During the last decade my main subject have become the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) in raptor conservation, research and photography.
“Happiness is only real when shared”. Through this website we would like to share with you the truly exceptional moments we have witnessed in the field that gave so much energy to us for the everyday life.
Additionally, we would like to display quality images about the characteristics of the European raptor species.
I met Gábor when we were students at the university. I feel very lucky to work with him, such a talented and inspiring bird photographer, raptor specialist and friend.
Enjoy the world of raptors with us!
Gábor Papp
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It was during my years at university when I happened to take a look at a Common Buzzard in an excursion. In that instant I was hooked with raptors. Since then I have been watching and studying them and also doing conservation-work in probably the best place for raptors in Hungary, the Zemplén Hills. After spending some grueling time abroad working anything I was offered I could save up enough to invest in my latest passion, photography.
Nowadays I spend most of my time photographing raptors in Hungary trying to create a collection of images of birds of prey, which is up to the standard set by photographers like Stige Frode Olsen, Daniele Occhiato and Dick Forsman.
András and me have agreed that the power of images is strong enough to convince people of the importance of this particular group of birds in our world.
In order to do that we would like to publish our work in book format eventually but until then most of our photos can be seen here. We promise to update the galleries as time and photo opportunities allow.
Enjoy the pictures and check back for updates!
My photo gear:
Canon 20D (needs an immediate upgrade)
Canon 500/4 L IS (used handheld most of the time)
Canon 1,4X Extender
Canon 2X Extender
Acknowledgement
We are deeply indebted to our beloved families for their constant and altruistic support!
Special thanks go to Tamás Szabó for his significant help in launching our website, and to Mike McGrady and Nick P Williams for their friendship and great support.
We are very grateful to the following friends and colleagues devoted to raptors for their excellent company and support and special help in some species:
János Bagyura, István Balázs, Tibor Balázs, Attila Bartha, Csaba Bartha, István Béres, Péter Borbáth, Péter Csonka, Georgi Darchiasvili (GE), Iván Demeter, Gábor Domboróczki, Miklós Dudás, Szabolcs Farkas, Imre Fatér, Gábor Firmánszky, Csaba Fitala, Lexo Gavashelishvili (GE), David Horal (CZ), Márton Horváth, Zura Javakhishvili (GE), András Kleszó, András Koczka, László Losonczi, Bertalan Majercsák, Jozef Mihok (SK), Ferenc Papp, Ádám Pongrácz, Nándor Seres, József Serfőző, Stoycho Stoychev (BG), Svetoslav Spasov (BG) www.natureimages.eu, Zsolt Szegedi, Tamás Szitta, Gábor Tihanyi, László Tóth, László Urbán, Zoltán Waliczky and the Peregrine fan club in Bristol: Chris, Darren, John, Julian, Mike, Nick, Phil, Richie and Wayne (UK).