This bird was feasting when I walked onto the Nickerson sand before sunrise. My unassembled rig was still in my backpack, so I immediately fished it out, put it together,
and quickly closed the 100-yard distance to ~40 yards as the bird ripped the prey apart. I dropped to my stomach and crawled another 20 yards, at which point the sun
cracked the dunes behind me (see reflection in eye). I was able to fire off a burst of frames just as two adult terns started mobbing the falcon. The harassed falcon flew
moments later, so I was happy the sun didn't arrive later or the mobbing tern earlier! It was only lit for 20 seconds before the terns flushed it, so I was really stoked to
have captured it. I only wish it hadn't flown directly away as it took the beheaded tern with it.
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2
1/1000 at f/5.6, ISO 1600
Processed in LR CC
I did remove one distracting black blob on the sand behind the falcon. I am not interested in additional cloning to obtain a cleaner frame.
Hope the frame isn't too pink, but that was the lighting at the time!