Tired of Dragon Flies

[Steve Large]

Hi there,
Got this shot last night at Buttertubs Marsh here in Nanaimo. Guess this guy got a bit tired of eating dragon flies all the time.

Stats: Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L, ISO 800, 1/400sec at F/8

Thanks for looking,

Steve

[Fabs Forns]

A big crude action, did he it eat it or finally got tired of trying? The subject seems a bit dark to me and tight in the frame also. Species?

[Steve Large]

Hi Fabs,
It's a Merlin Hawk. They like to clean up their prey before they eat it so that means pulling off all the feathers. If it was his usual meal which is dragon flies then he likes to take the wings off before eating the body. Sorry, hope this shot didn't gross you out too much :p.

Steve

[Fabs Forns]

I'm OK, Steve, they have to eat and I've seen a lot of predator/prey situations. Thanks :)

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Incredible timing and action captured in this image . As Fab already mentioned it appears a tad dark Steve but superb eye contact. TYFS.

[Steve Large]

Thanks Judy Lynn and Fabs,
Here is a repost with some of the colors pumped up in Viveza.

Steve

[Arthur Morris]

Cool encounter. Any idea of the prey item? Colors muddy and noisy in both, especially in the wing, likely the result of underexposure of the original capture because of the white sky....