This was taken in the Northern Kruger Park in the dry bed of the Shingwedzi River at Red Rocks. Two Hamerkops and 2 Saddle-billed storks were feeding at a small pool of water when the Fish-Eagle arrived. The Saddle-billed storks walked off but the Hamerkops remained. The Fish-Eagle sat and watched for a while - and then, unexpectedly, dived within inches of one of the Hamerkops, which escaped, bewildered but unharmed. This is the first time that I have observed this behaviour.
Canon 40D
Canon 100-400 lens at 400mm
ISO 400
f5.6
1/1000
Neat story, like the action, I would def. leave as well if I saw those talons coming at me.
Unfortunately, the camera focused behind the birds, so they are pretty soft. There could also be some motion blur involved. You might be able to get a bit more apparent sharpness out of the fish eagle, but probably not the hamerkop.
Looks like this scene has caught you by surprise, and unfortunately the critical focus failed to lock on to the action, with both birds rendered soft. Quite a busy setting too. It was a great sighting though, must have been fun to watch, and you do have something to remember it by.
Randy and Daniel - Thank you for your comments.
Yes, you're right - I was not ready for the action. I was actually concentrating on getting a possible shot of the Saddle-billed Storks in flight when this happened!
Fish-Eagle and Hamerkop
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