The Last Supper

[Kiran Poonacha]

This was probably the last snake for the day for this Short Toed Snake Eagle. I had waited that day for almost four hours to get close to him when he hunted. When I finally had my chance, he just showed his back to me and was feeding and the sun was down by then. I felt very miserable, but just before he finished off the snake the put his head up and gave me one look and I went Bang, Bang.

Spec: 1/250, F 5.6, ISO 800 ( a bit noisy setting but the best I could do at the situation)

canon 40D + 500mm + 1.4TC

[Elmar Venter]

Kiran, I like this a lot. Great detail, background, the eye is super and the meal sticking out puts this in another class. Well done on "bang bang"!

[Randy Stout]

Kiran:

Sometime it does work out in the end. Great to see the snake slithering down. Yes, I can see a bit of noise, but the image is sharp, I think you made the right choice.

HA is the only significant complaint from me, but I know you were thrilled to get any turn towards you!

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Sometimes to even get a shot like this, makes it all the worth while. Maybe not the best HA, but we can clearly see the large eye, and the remains of his meal going down the hatch. Job well done.

[Don Anderson]

CC been said, but the shots action and mood are perfect. I thought when I first saw this
image it was a mouse tail, not a snake. Great timing.

[Erich Stevens]

Kiran,

Another beauty! I'm glad you were so patient, so you could snap this one and share it with us. If it were mine I'd try a horizontal crop and include the nape of the neck and some of his back.

[David Fletcher]

Wonderful stuff Kiran, with your patience being rewarded. Good job!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful pose/eye contact and excellent bg`s color!

[Suzanne Huot]

Your patience was rewarded with this image

[Aidan Briggs]

Lovely soft light, exposure, and BG. Agree about the HA., and would love to see more of the bird.

[Harshad Barve]

Bang on expo, lovely compo , nice details
Great eye and remaining of meal takes it to top
TFS

[Dave Barnes]

Very interesting capture Kiran.
At first glance the snake looks like a very long tongue.:D
I like the detail captured.
Are raptors abundant in your area or do you need to travel a fair distance to capture them?

[Kiran Poonacha]

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and suggestions, Agree about the HA :(. sure Erich and Aidan will post a LS version later.

Thanks Dave, Raptors are not very common, but surely around if you know where to look for them. I spend a lot of time looking for them and once you get to know their routine, behavior and their fav perches. it makes it a bit easier to makes shots of them. do come to India during winter a lot of migrant raptors visit during this period (its just about starting now) its a great time see the beautiful collection of Raptors we have here. we dont find all the species in a certain area, we need to travel all over India to get the whole collection. I am trying to persue such a dream, with all your blessing hope to fullfill this dream some day.:)