Posted by Brett Lewis on March 30, 2009 at 7:12 PM
..slightly chilled by the looks of things. I think that carcass has been a real 'money spinner' for some of you guys.. Nice work and I like the snow-environment, so please leave as is..
Brett
Posted by Major Gilbert on March 30, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Excellent Andy and what an experience to be hold such a bird at close quarters.
Posted by Alan Bryant on March 31, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Cracking Andy
Posted by Danny Green on March 31, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Very nice Andy cracking pose with the added touch of the ruffled feathers. I have never seen one with such a colourful beak have made blended using masks
Danny
Posted by Andy Astbury on April 2, 2009 at 5:01 AM
Thanks folks
Danny - go wash your mouth out, masks indeed You're only jealous
Its a fair cop, I am insanely jealous as the B"^$&£dS never dropped down while I was there, came every day had look but for some reason decided not to come, ah well there is always next year
Great stuff Andy.
Was this at a pre baited site ? Would a WTSE usually go for carrion like fox?
Cheers
John
Posted by Andy Astbury on April 3, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Hi John - I don't quite know how you'd describe it really. The site is "baited" but only at the same time as the photographers enter the hide; not like we would go and fill feeders up every day come rain or shine.
The birds are doubtless aware that, if they are peckish, and food is hard to come by, then this area is worth a visit, but the birds are not "wedded" to the site as such - as illustrated by certain individual eagles absences for weeks on end.
Eagles are not so much aggressive super-predators, more like very energy-efficient meat eaters - they'll usually adopt the "least effort for greatest reward" stance and feed up on any carrion they come across - a bit like giant buzzards really I suppose. But with the added bonus that if they need to turn the "killer instinct" on then they can do - very effectively too I should imagine.
The thing that amazed me most though John was the sheer size of them - these wild Scandinavian birds just seem a great deal larger in comparison to both WTE and GE that we see here in the UK - must be all that oxygen-rich cold air
Discussion
23 repliesWild WTE on carrion!
Not to everyone's taste I don't suppose.
It conveys what the scene looked like so I'm not wanting to do much in the way of adjustment.
You get a different feeling when something this nasty (okay, mean-spirited then!) looks down the barrel of your lens
Bigger version http://wildlifeinpixels.com/img/0309/WIP00038605l.jpg
D3
300-800 @ 700mm (MF - AF impossible in these conditions)
ISO 400
1/250th @ f8 (+0.7EV)
CapNX + CS3
Thanks for looking
Tim
Phil.
Brett
Major.
great image, love that stare!!!!!!!!
Kevin
Nice one
Tim
Nice new Orwellian quote too !
Dave
Pete
Drew
Fran
Danny
Danny - go wash your mouth out, masks indeed
Danny
Was this at a pre baited site ? Would a WTSE usually go for carrion like fox?
Cheers
John
The birds are doubtless aware that, if they are peckish, and food is hard to come by, then this area is worth a visit, but the birds are not "wedded" to the site as such - as illustrated by certain individual eagles absences for weeks on end.
Eagles are not so much aggressive super-predators, more like very energy-efficient meat eaters - they'll usually adopt the "least effort for greatest reward" stance and feed up on any carrion they come across - a bit like giant buzzards really I suppose. But with the added bonus that if they need to turn the "killer instinct" on then they can do - very effectively too I should imagine.
The thing that amazed me most though John was the sheer size of them - these wild Scandinavian birds just seem a great deal larger in comparison to both WTE and GE that we see here in the UK - must be all that oxygen-rich cold air