S-N-E-A-K-Y little jackal!

[Tim Driman]

While watching a pair of Secretary Birds enjoying their evening drink at a waterhole on a recent trip to Nxai Pans ( Botswana ), we noticed a sneaky little Black-backed Jackal creeping up to the Secretary Bird....But he was spotted and sent on his way by the birds! One Jackal against two Secretary Birds = Not even a contest!

Canon 7Dii / 20mm - 400mmf4+1.4x ; ISO 640 ; F6.3 ; 1/3,200th sec Flocal Length 560mm

Using South African built : Gimpro Door Mount / Gimbal

Image captured on a recent camping trip the Nxai Pans in Botswana... At a water hole in the evening... This is Botswana's answer to Namibia's Etsoha Pan.... Very flat, very dry, highly reflective soda ash soils producing lots of glare...

Secretary Birds derive their name from the long dark feathers at the back of their head. Looks like an old-fashioned secretary with pens behind ears... Or so the old legend goes... ;-)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wonderful moment to see and a great capture but unfortunately the bird's head looks slightly out of focus to me.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Tim, I like the overall content with the bird drinking and the Jackal in the BKG/low POV, but based on the techs, the image isn't great, it's sadly not critically sharp, thin in terms of tonal content and very noisy which also makes me think the exposure wasn't quite there, especially at ISO640 (did you lighten the image). Also is this a large crop, or FF, always helps to add IMHO?

TFS
Steve