Martial Eagle

Gallery: AvianPosted October 12, 2012169 views16 comments

Here's another one from our Namibia trip. This is a really, impressive bird of prey, have a look at those talons and legs! We had some nice action with this bird. We spoke with another vehicle at the waterhole and they had seen this bird catch a guineafowl and then drop it, a jackal then picked up the fowl. While we were photographing the eagle he was intently watching the jackal and at one point flew straight at us and down to try and recover the fowl from the jackal (unfortunatley that part took place behind a bush so no images with both jackal and eagle). At the point that this image was taken it gave up reclaiming the guineafowl from the jackal and flew away. This is cropped to vertical, about 55% of the original image.

7D 500F4 1/1600 F5.6, iso 400, manual exposure, taken from vehicle

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on October 12, 2012 at 6:03 PM

Great story behind the shot Nate, I especially like the side view of those impressive legs & talons as you say.
The lights direction worked well for you, nice sharp take-off shot

Have a good weekend!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Greg Oakley on October 12, 2012 at 6:08 PM

Great image of an impressive raptor Nate!
Cheers Greg

Registered on June 12, 2012, 115 Posts, 266 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on October 12, 2012 at 6:37 PM

Man, those are some drumsticks! Excellent catch on the eagle!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on October 12, 2012 at 7:09 PM

Very nice shot. Great lighting and pose.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on October 12, 2012 at 9:34 PM

Fantastic Nate - so sharp and a great pose. Maybe remove those couple of twigs right in front of its face??

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on October 12, 2012 at 10:29 PM

Wonderful details and I agree...very impressive. I like the speckles on the leading edge of that very sturdy wing. I also would think about removing all the twigs on the left. Great capture! Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 12, 2012 at 11:25 PM

Thanks for your comments everyone! Rob and Sharon I think I will remove the sticks closest to the hawks face, thanks for the suggestion. I saw the cloning as kind of taking all or none of the oof branches on the left out, but now I just think I will remove a few.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 13, 2012 at 12:51 AM

A lovely shot of an extremely impressive raptor. Those are the heftiest legs I've seen on a raptor. I'd think a jackal would have to very hungry to mess with this guy.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on October 13, 2012 at 2:54 AM

An interesting looking eagle and wonderful timing to get this pose, I like how the yellow eye stands out and that the eagle is sharp where it needs to be. With a name like marital who would what to tangle with this eagle, way to go Nate.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on October 13, 2012 at 8:23 AM

This bird is a heavy weight with those legs and feet being really strong. I would not want to be on the business end of those babies! Very nice shot overall. Next time I expect the eagle and the jackal. Come on, you are a professional for crying out loud.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on October 13, 2012 at 9:08 AM

Indeed very impressive talons ! Nice story, great shot ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 13, 2012 at 9:39 AM

Ron, your comment cracked me up, thanks

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on October 13, 2012 at 2:52 PM

Great image, Nate. The power of this massive bird is so evident in the image.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on October 13, 2012 at 11:51 PM

Awesome bird Nate

Those talons are certainly intimidating, very nice flight action shown here with excellent detail.

Sweet One!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on October 14, 2012 at 11:21 AM

Those are quite impressive talons, excellent shot!

Rat

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on October 15, 2012 at 8:29 PM

Yikes, those are some mean looking weapons - and an appropriate scowl to go with them. I'd probably agonize over the cloning issue with this one, just like you apparently have Nate. In the end, if I did it, I'd probably only take out two branches - the one closest to the head of the eagle and the one poking into the frame above that. Darn neat bird.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments