Early in the morning in Etosha I was very lucky to come across a caracal at a lonely watering hole and managed to spend nearly 45 minutes following him.
As he walked away from the hole he was being trailed by a black-backed jackal and suddenly flushed out a couple of cape turtle doves
Nice to see a caracal image. Good to know that you had such a long sighting. Would like to hear more about the jackal's behaviour in the presence of the caracal.
The jackal came to investigate but didn't seem that bothered. Nor was the jackal - I did think something might happen but nada.
If I hadn't been the first out of the gate I would never have seen this guy. The funny thing is that multiple cars passed me and didn't even stop to investigate what my long lens was aiming at. Had they stopped I would have told them bit as it was it gave me the luxury of slowly following him without any traffic
haven't even seen one in the wild and I live in Africa so well done! have you got any closer shots?
I do like this wide perspective and all the animals/birds in the shot tell a story :)
This is quite a thing to see - fantastic. I would never have thought of a caracal somewhere like Etosha.
Are you already cropping fairly signifcantly and do you have interest in this beyond a fabulous record shot? If so, did you consider cropping out the dove with its back turned? It's another view on the scene that works better for me, and personally I think the story is still there.
Paul, the original cropping was only from the bottom (full width pixels), so I have tried a new crop. Do feel that it might be a bit too much to send to my agency but I do like this version more. Thanks for the idea!
A Caracal sighting in daylight (well just about) is extremely rare and I have never seen one in Etosha. It does not surprise me that the passers by did not stop they were probably looking for larger cats.