Juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk at lunch

[Morkel Erasmus]

We came across this juvenile southern pale chanting goshawk late one afternoon in the Kalahari as it was munching on a snake it had caught.

Had to fire fill flash into the shadows as the bird was in the shade of a tree and the BG was very bright. The area was riddled with fallen thorn branches so I tried to get the best view to the face possible.

All comments welcome...this is basically full frame.

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 400mm
f5.6 @ 1/250 SS @ ISO-320
Exp +0.3
pop-up flash fired

[Don Lacy]

Hi Morkel, A nice natural history image, I think you could have used a bit more flash to help lighten the head of the hawk and balance out the BG.Still a tough situation to come out with a decent image which you have.

[Arthur Morris]

You pretty much did as well as you could have in an extremely difficult situation. You might want to lose the bright white bit between the mandibles....

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Awesome find Morkel and I agree you did well to capture this incredible moment. Congrats.

[Robert O'Toole]

Eye contact and action is cool. I would lighten it with a mask, only the body head. Good job over all with tough light and angle.

Good point made by artie!

Robert

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice shot Morkel, snake makes this one very intersting to look at. Agree with comments above. TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the feedback Artie, Arash, Robert, Judy & Don...

here is a version with the bird lightened...this image is another reason why I need an external flash :o

Artie - I left the white piece in the mouth as it's part of the snake meat :)

[Mark Dumbleton]

Repost works well Morkel! Love the tight framing here and look on the bird. You were very lucky to get this close!