Tiger from Tadoba

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Visited Tadoba last week, the weather was at its worst best. Never before had Tadoba recorded so much fog as it had last week. Sightings were bad and this was probably the longest spell for a while wherein no tigers had been sighted. We were lucky when on one relatively clearer morning we spotted this lovely tiger near Jamunbodi. When we returned we compared pictures which Gajanan Bhai had been taking over the last 4 years and we realized this was a new male in the area. We could spend about 40 mins with 'His Majesty' before the tiger disappeared into the thickets. Pleasantly, after about 1 hour when we heard calls from the same area we returned to spot the Pandherponi tigress on the same path trying to figure this male's entry into the area. Was a lovely morning.

In this picture the tiger was about to jump from above to the other side but then refrained from doing so. Didn't have space to move due to another gypsy behind. Could not react that fast to reduce the focal length to include the tail either.

Nikon D7000,f/5.6,SS 1/400,ISO 1000,240 mm (Nikon 70-300).

[Abhirup Dutta Gupta]

Great capture,beautiful..........

[Debasis Bose]

It is always exciting to watch the supreme predator in the wild and that also after seven days of no sighting. Lovely freeze, and the expression of the tiger says "should I leap or not". Seems to me young tiger, just separated from her mother.

[Shyamala Kumar]

Looks like a young adult ,unscarred by territorial battles.Lovely expression captured.In Tadoba I recommend that you carry zoom telescopic lenses as the chances of seeing tigers upclose are high.TFS

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Thanks all for the comments.

Shyamalaji, I did carry my 70-300 zoom lens which I mounted in my camera as soon as I saw the tiger coming closer. The tiger was behind a bush and was thinking to go or not to go ahead. It stood there for a good 10 minutes and came out just ahead of us. Couldn't react to change the focal length that quickly since I was watching the tiger directly and not through the camera. I do agree that in Tadoba tigers can really come close, in my previous trips I have noticed that. Thanks.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

nice moment murugan. the indecision is sort of evident here.

TFS
Roopak

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Expression and readiness (noting the shoulder muscles) both captured at right moment,in my view. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Lovely sighting. I guess this is a crop with the original image having more space at the right. The critical focus is not on the head. I guess one stop narrow aperture may have given a better depth of field and would have strengthened the image. Thanks for sharing. Cheers,Sabyasachi