Right Time Wrong Place

[Ken Watkins]

I have been in two minds as to whether I should post this or not as it is to say the least not exactly of the greatest quality.

But given the rather different nature of it I thought I would see what you all thought and perhaps give me some ideas as to whether it could be rescued.

This is a Fish Eagle attempting to catch a Juvenile Goliath Heron not exactly the sort of thing you see everyday.

It is self evident that I was not prepared for this opportunity and trying to get it was not improved by being in a moving boat.

Taken on Lake Manze channel, Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, 6th July 2012

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 hand-held

F7.1, ISO 800, 1/640, EV +0.33

[Markus Jais]

Fantastic capture even when not in perfect IQ. At first I thought the eagle was trying to steal a fish but at closer look and given your description it looks like it really was after the heron - which is not without dangers, the bill of the Goliath could probably kill the eagle. I've seen pictures where a Goliath Heron took over fish from an African Fish Eagle.

Markus

[Craig Kerr]

Fabulous capture Ken, a most unusual sight. Image quality not perfect but it does tell a great story :-)
Not sure who will come second in this cat (bird) fight !!

[Arthur Morris]

Quite an amazing capture. Is this a very large crop or was the original not completely sharp? Or both? The heron is a juvie. What is the white by the talons of the fish eagle???

[Ken Watkins]

Firstly, I should have said the Goliath Heron got away, thank goodness.

Art,
Not being too sure how you work out crop %, the RAW is 4896x 3264 and the crop is 3497 x 2553, hope this helps. The original is certainly not "completely sharp" my panning speed was way off!
As too the white by the outstreched leg, I really have no idea what it is.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Hey Ken, I gave it a shot. Let me know what you think. It's an amazing capture and I'm impressed that you got it handheld from a moving boat!

In Photoshop:
- Added a new blank layer and used the brush tool at 7% to paint the background with a color that I picked from the background (hope that makes sense). I think it makes the bg a little more homogeneous and really helps the birds pop a little more.
- Added some canvas to the left and filled it in with content aware fill.
- Used Nik CEP to bring back some of the detail in the whites.
- Brightened the entire image a smidge using a curves adjustment layer.
- Cropped to a 16:9 aspect ratio, giving more room to the left of the frame.
- Selective sharpening on the birds (not sure if it's a bit overdone though).



Again, great capture!

[Oscar Dewhurst]

What a moment to see and capture, shame about the IQ though. From what you said, a crop of 3497x2553 should be sharp enough (especially at the fairly small size at which it is posted) if the original was sharp, so there must have been some motion blur. It looks like also that the focus is more on the Eagle than the Heron. Is the white by the legs, just part of the legs?

Oscar

[Arthur Morris]

Agree, not a large crop at all. Darn those moving boats....

[Ken Watkins]

Miguel,
Thanks for your re-post, I used NIK myself evidently there could be more detail extracted.
Art,
And darn my too slow reaction time

[Arthur Morris]

Based o n Peter's series of images I would have to say that it is very likely that the fish eagle was going for a fish and not for the fish eagle....

[Ken Watkins]

Peter,

Firstly what a remarkable series if images. there I was thinking I had seen something extraordinary. In our case the Heron was certainly making a lot of noise.

Whilst I think that the purpose of the attack is unclear I can say that when I mentioned this to my friend who works as a vet for WCS he told me that he had once seen similar action and in his sighting the Fish Eagle had killed the Heron and subsequently eaten it, something I am glad I did not see this time as I love Goliath Herons

[Arthur Morris]

the fish eagle's talon are pale-yellow, might just appear white here

Not sure but I do not think so. Too big and too white. I'd love to see the RAW file blown up :).

[Arthur Morris]

Peter,

Firstly what a remarkable series if images. there I was thinking I had seen something extraordinary. In our case the Heron was certainly making a lot of noise.

Whilst I think that the purpose of the attack is unclear I can say that when I mentioned this to my friend who works as a vet for WCS he told me that he had once seen similar action and in his sighting the Fish Eagle had killed the Heron and subsequently eaten it, something I am glad I did not see this time as I love Goliath Herons

I's have to seethe photos to believe that one :).

[Ken Watkins]

Art,

Although he has had several images published in Africa Geographic most recently relating to Southern Sudan there are no images of my friends sighting.

Here is a heavy crop of the relevant area straight from untouched RAW

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ken. Mr. Kes assures me that a fish eagle killing a Goliath Heron is well within the realm of possibility. I still would like to see the images. From your blow-up it is clear the white thing is the leg just above the yellow toes.

[Ken Watkins]

Art,
I for one would certainly have been interested in seeing such images, having rechecked a few other Fish Eagle images I think you are right the skin on the lower legs is the answer for me.