The Snake Eagle Doing what it does best, very shy birds. It was my patience against the snake eagles, first I spent about two months trying to understand when this bird hunts then realised they hunt mainly after sunset. after which I waited out for this moment. The bright eye is natural, no major work done.
Superb image,
Great persistence, very well done.
The tail and right wing are a little noisy.
There's a research in Israel, suggesting they have some resistance to venom.
Beside that, those plates on the legs are rock hard. it protects them from getting bitten on the legs.
Kiran, I always get excited just before opening up your posts. You never let me down, always a superb Raptor. This one is as close to perfect as you can get. Awesome posture, eye contact, BG, Super DOF and sharpness. Prey item puts this way over the top. Congratulations!!
As noted above Kiran-bhai, this one is killer for lots of reasons. Love the SH, the snake, and the scutes. My only wish is that the bird had been staring right at you.
Were you in a vehicle of concealed in any way?
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Cool bird, great low angle which makes the bg work so much better than a downward angle would have, killer eyes, and the snake puts it over the top. Very well done.
I like the low angle and eye contact in this. Comp works well, and good to see his next meal in the beak. I would maybe darken the BG a bit. Your patience paid off nicely. Well captured Kiran.
Thank you all dear people for your Kind words of encouragement.
@ Randy: They first perch on low trees and watch for movement ( what's surprises me is there vision or I don't what they possess, they spot a snake of this size from almost 100 metres away, the snake is almost hidden under the grass) once they have spotted their prey they swoop down and stand motionless till the snake makes a move. Then they pick them up with their beak. They usually swallow small snakes whole and break little larger snakes by holding it in their talons and pulling it with their beak.
@ Gal: could not do much gal the 40D is pretty noisy @ ISO 800. Needed a higher shutter speed as the snake is wriggling when the bird catches it and I have a whole load of images with the snake blurred. Thanks for the interesting info.
@ Brian: the snake is a buff stripped keel back. Its a non venomous snake. Will post another hunt of the same species of snake but a larger snake later.
@ Guruji: No I was in my suv with tinted glasses. I would wait about 50 to 75 metres away from the bird with the glasses up. When the bird would swoop down I would drive up to it, sleep on the car floor and make shots. Actually guruji, I had positioned myself for a head on pose. But the bird moved while trying to kill the snake.
Needless to say, its again one of the spectacular images from you Kiran. Nicely captured @ 1/640 and with TC. I liked everything as covered by others. Congratulations!!
The Short Toed Snake Eagle
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