Nankeen Kestrel with prey

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
Cage
Cage's picture
Nankeen Kestrel with prey

I've been playing with stacked T/C's on my Nikon 300mm f4 and decided to give it a field test on the Black Kites that were hanging around a tractor ploughing a field.

On the way I spotted this little fellow hiding amongst the insulators on a power pole and decided to wait and see what I could get. Thirty minutes later he spotted lunch and I got some shots from about 25-30 meters. I was having trouble finding focus as I had the gear on a monopod and it was moving around, thanks to my shaky hands, I think with my tripod this could have been quite a good shot.

Nikon D800, 300mm f4 + Nikon 1.4X + Tamron SP 1.4X = 568mm, ISO1600, f8 at 1/1000s.

Rick N
Rick N's picture

Beautiful shot. Pretty good result with that combo of TCs.

Cage
Cage's picture

Rick N wrote:

Beautiful shot. Pretty good result with that combo of TCs.

Thanks Rick. I'm waiting on the new Tamron 150-600mm in Nikon mount to hit the shelves as it has VC. If the VC is anywhere near as good as in the 70-200mm it will be good to go on a monopod. As you know with BOP you don't get a lot of time to set-up.

Cheers

Cage

Hunter Valley NSW

Night Parrot
Night Parrot's picture

Fantastic photo. Poor mouse.

WhistlingDuck

Great capture of kestrel and prey.  Thats a good sized meal for lunch.

I have seen a kestrel hunting at sydney olympic park on quite a few days recently, he hovers above an open area of tall grass and then drops down to snatch small lizards and grasshoppers which he eats on the wing and then returns immediately to the hovering and hunting. I think he would be very envious of your kestrel having a nice big sit down lunch. 

birdie
birdie's picture

What a great shot..... not sure why I never seen Kestrels or BSK perched , everyone else seems to!!!!

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Reflex
Reflex's picture

Great shot! You must be pleased with that one. They always look like they have made a special effort to look good for the photograph.

Samford Valley Qld.

Cage
Cage's picture

Thanks all for looking and the kind comments.

Cheers

Cage

Hunter Valley NSW

 and   @birdsinbackyards
                 Subscribe to me on YouTube