Incoming Cape Vulture

[Stu Bowie]

These Cape Vultures are totally wild and come down from the surrounding Mountains to feed on a carcass left out for them. They feed and take food back for their chicks nesting back in the mountains. Photographed from a glass hide, which also seconds as an office to study and track these vultures, as some have tags and small GPS tracking systems on them. This organization looks after injured Vultures and also has an in house breeding program. The bloodied Vulture in the FG shows us how he got stuck into a meal.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300 F/2.8mm
1/2000
F/6.3
ISO 400

Hand Held

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice work, Stu. The pose of the vulture landing reminds me of a Wood Stork I posted recently. Spot on exposure and detail, the background shows the African environment. I like the vulture in the lower left which adds to the image. Thank you for sharing.

[annmpacheco]

Impressive Stu, what a flying machine reading for landing, and the lone clear blue eye. I really like the bloodied head of the lower bird as well. Details in both birds are nice!

[John Mack]

Pretty cool looking bird here like the pose and the wing position. The bloodied bird on the bottom is nice as well.

[Jonathan Ashton]

You nailed it Stu, a great image the pose is just about perfect an the colours and DOF and fine focus are spot on, well done.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Nice to see one from the hide. Great timing and head on view. Nice detail and sharpness. I might go for a pano crop without the additional bird as an alternative. I think I would prefer if the whole other bird was there rather just the top.

TFS,
Rachel

[David Salem]

I would love to see some of these guys one day. You did a great job capturing both of them and giving us two different looks at the vultures. Love the incoming flight pose and the bloody head of his buddy. Well done Stu

[William Dickson]

Well done Stu. Great detail and colours throughout the image. You can 'feel' the power. I would also think about removing the grounded bird, but, it does add interest :S3:

Will