Nature's Cruel

[Troy Lim]

Had a great morning shooting with Sid and Michael. The morning started off slow but progressed into a very interesting day. Captured shots of the Least Terns in flight and Oyster catchers napping on the small sandbar.

During our morning stay we heard a lot of commotion coming from the Tern colony. On the ground was a Tern whose wing had apparently been severed by the large land crabs that roam the beach. The tern was in a great deal of pain and rolling around on the ground calling frantically. All the noise and movement attracted the attention of many of the other birds in the area, and eventually this Ibis decided to harass the poor injured tern. Eventually the Ibis had done enough bullying and moved on. Shortly the Tern started walking around the beach while other Least terns hovered overhead.

It was a sad sight to see, but thats the way nature operates. Apparently rubber necking is common in all species as many different types of shore birds had to stop and stare at the crying injured Tern before moving on about their business.

D3s + 600VR + 1.4TC, 1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, -3EV Filled Flash. Cloned out the OOF Willet in the BG right below the Ibis in the water. Hope you like it :)

[Ofer Levy]

Fantastic behaviour shot Troy!! Crop and composition are awesome too. If anything would darken it a bit.

[Harshad Barve]

Fantastic behaviour shot Troy!! Crop and composition are awesome too. If anything would darken it a bit.

Plus one here and nice that you captured the cruel moment
TFS

[Craig Brelsford]

Compelling image, Troy, and I support all your choices.

[Chris Baker]

Great Image Troy, certainly caught the moment and well presented. TFS

[Dumay de Boulle]

I think this is fanatstic...this is cover on magazine stuff. Great behavior and to me its perfect as resented. I got excited when I saw the thumbnail, I knew it was gonna be great. Awesome image Troy!

[Chad Caswell]

Wonderful image Tory, love how the ibis is reaching into the frame and you can still see the entire tern, great low perceptive as well. nature is tough sometimes and it doesn't seem to have any mercy in all accounts.

[Michael Wolf]

Great composition and perfect exposure. A sad sight for sure.

[Mark Itol]

Such a great image with an equally great story, Troy. It's sad, but it's how nature is.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great story captured here. Composition puts it over the top.

[Lorant Voros]

Exciting to see images of this kind with the action and the great story of life of the birds. Nice low angle and the composition make it very interesting for me. Well done.

Lorant

[Bill Jobes]

That's an outstanding image, Troy.

When one can 'feel' the movement in the scene, as we can here, you've succeeded !

And I share your sentiments about what we perceive to be cruelty in nature. That's what occurs when action is governed by instinct, devoid of emotion.

[Troy Lim]

Great composition and perfect exposure. A sad sight for sure.

Michael, did you get any shot of this series? Love to see your version from your angle.

[Troy Lim]

Thank you all. I will post more once I processed them.

[Adams Serra]

Nice timing Troy!
I am sorry I could not meet you guys there.

[noelle zaleski]

What a sad story Troy .... but this is nature.

This image really has impact!!

Wonderful job

[tapas.chattopadhyay]

Superb timing.....it's cruel nature indeed!!!!!!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Solid image Troy. Great comp, and amazing interaction (although sad). This will look great on the cover of a magazine. Could go a bit darker?
Fantastic work!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Troy, I am really liking this shot....well seen, composed and executed....so different. The low angle and BG are also terrific.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Fantastic crop and clarity . Tell the story .

[zethar zethar]

Thanks for the story. When I initially looked at the image, I thought the Ibis was feeding the little guy; unfortunately not.

Interesting capture.

[Arthur Morris]

As much as I love this for all of the reasons noted above a frame without the merge of the two bills would have worked much better for me.

Estero Lagoon?

On what do you base this assumption:

"On the ground was a Tern whose wing had apparently been severed by the large land crabs that roam the beach." ?

[Troy Lim]

As much as I love this for all of the reasons noted above a frame without the merge of the two bills would have worked much better for me.

Estero Lagoon?

On what do you base this assumption:

"On the ground was a Tern whose wing had apparently been severed by the large land crabs that roam the beach." ?

Artie, yes I have a frame without merging bills.
Earlier on, one tern was working very hard chasing the crabs away. We were there and nearby the whole time and never saw any Raptors. So, that was my best guest.

[Arthur Morris]

If the frame without the merge is good, please post it here :)

Was this at Estero Lagoon?

It is a big assumption that the wing was severed by the crabs.... It is much more likely that the tern was sick or injured before the crabs came for lunch....

[Troy Lim]

If the frame without the merge is good, please post it here :)

Was this at Estero Lagoon?

It is a big assumption that the wing was severed by the crabs.... It is much more likely that the tern was sick or injured before the crabs came for lunch....

Yes, It was at the Estero Lagoon.
Could be the but there were only a few pairs around where it happened, I was there in the morning and they were all active..next time I will just leave it up to one's imagination. :)
Will process it tonight. Thank you.

[Sid Garige]

Excellent job Troy. I missed the whole series.

[Troy Lim]

Excellent job Troy. I missed the whole series.

Sid, that was the earlier one, did you get any when the ibis changed its position?