Thieving Raptor

[Ishmeet Sahni]

1Dx + EF 500 f/4 IS + EF 1.4 TC III
ISO-200
Aperture - f/6.3
Exposure - 1/320
Bias - +2/3
Support - Bean Bag

This image was taken near Pune, India. The Montgau's Female is raiding a Red Wattled Lapwing Nest.
It tried to swallow the egg whole, I shall be posting that image too, when it failed it broke the egg and
ate its contents.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This individual has a :caught in the act" look to it! Nice low angle, sweet light, and a good view of the egg. You got a good angle on the action. You could remove a bit of the FG if you wish, and I see a dust spot or two above the tail. Well done overall, and looking forward to more form the series.

[Shawn Zierman]

The natural history aspect of the image scores very high marks...and you even knew what nest was being predated...props to your knowledge. If there was any way at the time of capture to move to your right and get a little more spacing between the bird and the large background element to it's right...this fine image would have been even better. I also think a slightly more elevated shooting angle would have been worth exploring, though you were probably shooting from a vehicle, so maybe it was not a viable option...I like Daniel's idea of trimming the fg slightly.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice low shooting angle, nice pose and light.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

The natural history aspect of the image scores very high marks...and you even knew what nest was being predated...props to your knowledge. If there was any way at the time of capture to move to your right and get a little more spacing between the bird and the large background element to it's right...this fine image would have been even better. I also think a slightly more elevated shooting angle would have been worth exploring, though you were probably shooting from a vehicle, so maybe it was not a viable option...I like Daniel's idea of trimming the fg slightly.

Shawn, thank you for your gracious comments. When I first saw this phenomenon, I was in an SUV, that made my shooting position much higher than the bird. I got a full series of shots of the Harrier trying to swallow the egg whole. I am posting the image today. After that I got off the vehicle as I was trying to get an eye level shot. To the question of changing my position, things were happening so fast, I just didn't want to ,miss anything.

regards,
Ishmeet

[Mike Koopmans]

Awesome. Your low point of view has made both the foreground and the background really creamy. Beautiful. Incredible bird too.

[Shawn Zierman]

Makes perfect sense Ishmeet...it's easy after the fact to think about background control :) ...undoubtedly you made the correct call in regards to not missing the action or flushing the bird by moving around too much...You were well rewarded for your efforts here.