A Black Kite grabs a small bird in mid air!
I went abroad on a one week “family holiday”. We got on to a “dragon” and flew to this colossal metropolis. To me it was like entering a disturbed ant-hill !
Underground tunnels taking a zillion humans packed in moving metal boxes in all directions all the time! Skyscrapers above occupy every inch of land competing with each other in size. An astounding amount and variety of food is consumed endlessly. From Beef to Beatles anything goes! I even saw a menu that said freshly hunted wild boar! … And I saw peanut packets in a shop that contained roasted peanuts mixed with tiny dried fish!
Ah! I brought back a just launched “Nikkor 28-300 mm lens” I am dying to test! Sitting on my balcony looking at that wonderful green garden below I get a whiff of that wonderful dal being boiled. Am I dizzy or what – home sweet home!
Black kites are circling above, several Red-whiskered Bulbuls are playing about on the Spathodea tree in front of me. I spy a White-cheeked barbet trying to find a nesting hole? A Rock Pigeon suddenly takes of from near me and I spy its nest with two eggs! Is this home or what!! (That other place, Pigeons are on the menu!)
White-cheeked Barbet - No problems with urban habitat as long as there are trees!
Why do they call me "Rock Pigeon"?
Hello!? The lens must be tested! I first shoot the Spathodea flower. Did you notice the butterfly sitting inside? Not bad. The lens is only 800 gms and feels like a toy compared to the 600mm and 500mm I have been using. I grab a decent image of a bulbul. Hmmm… Actually I got this lens for some action photography. It is cloudy no? Boost ISO - 640 ok?
Spathodea Flower with Butterfly!
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Suddenly, the Bulbul grabs the butterfly! It has got a hold on the butterfly’s wing. It has no idea what to do next? The butterfly is still. The Bulbul opens its beak and the Butterfly is gone! So I click and click…☺
Red-whiskered Bulbul grabs Butterfly!
Red-whiskered Bulbul -Blinded?
Red-whiskered Bulbul - Lost Prey?
And then I hear some commotion, several birds calling in panic! A Black Kite swoops down and grabs a small bird in flight! I cannot believe what just happened and manage to click a few shots. Ah, I have it on F8! VR II, Hand -Held. I conclude that the sharp-sighted kite must have pounced on an escaped cage bird? I also conclude that this tiny 800gms lens with VR II technology is certainly intresting! See those sharp wing tips?
All the above images shot using “AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 ED VR” on a D700 body, Hand-Held.
A visit to Kabini then?
My cell phone rings …damn ☺
Vijay Cavale
October, 2010
