Tricky Meal

[John Robinson]

Greenshank with three spined Stickleback.
I,ve been wanting to increase my wader files for some time now but living in central England, its not that easy ! I spent 6 hours in a small cramped hide at a new site my mate and I have worked on and managed to get Green Sandpiper, Dunlin, and Greenshank- so things are looking up. The Greenshank was a real bonus as it did its usual thing and I got shots but then right in front of the hide it caught a Stickleback. We did'nt even know there were any in there as the water is a couple of inches over mud ! We have seen King fishers dealing with the spines by whacking the prey on a stick but this with the Greenshank was amazing.!
It took at least 5 minutes for it to finally swallow it ! So amusing ! It kept throwing it in the air- turning it around- trying to break the spines off etc,etc. It finally went down and the shots were a real bonus - to me anyway. I had a job to walk after the cramped hide but it was worth it.. Loads more of different Stickle back positions if any one interested.

Nikon D 7100
Sigma 50-500 mm on 500mm
ISO 640
50th sec @f8
60% of frame
Curves in Paint Shop Pro
Neat Image.Thanks for looking
Cheers
JohnR

[John Robinson]

Heres the frame after that one above. Fishy perfectly lined up !!
Cheers
JohnR

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful (and instructive) shot. How do they do that?? I once watched an Anhinga in Florida beat the living daylights out of some hapless fish (looked like a catfish to me, but what do I know). Took several minutes. And of course, the branch it was using for the murder weapon was in the way of a pleasing photograph. The fish wasn't enormous but it did struggle somewhat to finally swallow it.

[Ian Wilson]

Bravo John, wonderful action you captured here. It makes a good wader shot rise above the ordinary by providing an interesting focus of attention and high drama. No problems for me, beautiful work. Cheers, Ian.

[John Robinson]

Thanks both . Got me thinking about fish protecting themselves. One way is obviuosly spines but in this case it seemingly doesn't work ! Fish always look so sad too- especially when being eaten!!!
John

[Richard Flack]

Lovely action shot John! I really like the second frame. Love the pose of the fish on this one. The whites look a little overexposed but not anything to write home about. TFS

[John Robinson]

Thanks all
Richard
I wondered about that but my associate informs me that this was a very "bright" bird ! compared to the usual ones - as his videos show. The whites didn't show as blown so I left as was.
Cheers
John