Red-capped Robin

[John Cooper]

Photographed from a hide atop a 20ft tower. I had a session every day for about one week on this robin. During one session I suddenly observed the head of a large goanna appear less than a foot from these young chicks!! My first instinct was to make a noise and wave my arm through the front of the hide. this had the desired effect - the startled goanna lost its grip and fell to the ground. Had I interfered with nature - should I've remained quite and allowed the reptile to make a meal out of the chicks?? Whatever the answer I am sure I would do the same again!!

Canon EOS 3, Canon 100-300F5.6L, 1/125 F11, Fuji RDP, Flash x2, Hide, Tripod.

[David Steele]

A lovely image John. I like the ever-hungry chicks and the lichen on the nest. It's unfortunate that the dark background is similar to the black of the adult. This bird has the same colouring as the striking Crimson-breasted Shrike of Southern Africa. The Germans of South West Africa (now known as Namibia) used to love the shrike because it had the same colours as the flag of imperial Germany!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice find, poses and I think it's a good deed to protect these pretty birds. I would add a bit room at the top and right since the tail appears to be clipped this way, tone down the whites of the plumage and apply some NR on the BG. It looks a bit soft on my monitor.

[Jody Melanson]

Nice interaction. I would leave more room to the right for a virtual tail.

If I was faced with your dilemma, I would try to let nature take its course, but hard to say unless I was there...

[Anita Rakestraw]

Sweet image! I think the nits have been covered. Another vote for intervention here! Man has and continues to "interfere" with nature, to the point of extinction in some cases, near-extinction in others. Granted, everything has to eat, but if I'm there, I'm part of nature too and my intervention is just a bit of bad luck for the predator this time. If the predator was a member of an endangered species, I might reconsider. {-: