Successful hunting

[Christian Neumann]

I have shown this picture earlier but I revised the former version and hopefully improved it. This image of a female Eurasian kestrel comes pretty close to what I had on my mind - a skillful predator caught in the act.
I took the picture at a decomissioned airfield in the center of Berlin. Here the birds are used to humans and easy to approach - a great site for kestrels, sparrowhawks, Northern Goshawks and Rough-legged hawks.
I approached the hovering bird by bicycle (considering the direction of light) with the camera set on Tv-mode at 1/1250 sec and ISO auto.
When the bird caught the mouse I aimed (handheld) and shot continuously (AF was on spot center). This is the best picture from the sequence.
Hope you like it!

EOS 7D
400mm f/5.6
1/1250 s
f/5.6
+ 1 stop
hendheld



106103

http://www.tornadoropa.eu

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

nice pose, loved the position of the mouse as well

[bhavya joshi]

Great catch..Continuous shot is useful here.. Wish wings also comes in focus..Looks like mouse is alive...:S3:

[Steven Kersting]

Very cool!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I remember when you forst posted this one, and this new version has a much better composition off the bat. Nice to have such a spot!

[Brendan Dozier]

Wonderful behavior / action capture, Christian. Nice light and pose, too bad for the mouse but very dramatic to see it so clearly. Way to hold steady focus on the action and get the shot.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,like how the birds head and field vole are in focus,not trying to be clever,but I think the mouse is a field vole.well done.