A rare shot!

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Shot this in Bandipur tiger reserve last weekend, as we were driving in the forest we heard alarm calls by langurs so we stopped and were looking around to spot one of the predators, the alarm calls continued loudly by the herd of chitals as well. All of a sudden a jeep zipped in from the opposite direction probably they too heard the calls, and guess what we see - a Leopard sprinting across the track and quickly disappeared in the undergrowth. There was no chance to photograph the leopard at such high speed.

More interestingly what I noticed is the behaviour of the chitals after the leopard disappeared. All chitals regrouped and reassured each other, this was really a rare & touching moment to watch.

Canon 40D, 100-400mm L IS USM, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/400

[Bibhav Behera]

The crop works for me here. I like the use of shallow DOF to maintain the focus of the eye on the pair... Thanks for sharing

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Leopards are so secretive, it becomes difficult to track them. They can even hide in sparse vegetation. I wish you had a good sighting. I haven't seen a leopard in bandipur since May this year.

It is good that you didn't pack your camera at the dissapointment of missing the leopard. This is a touching moment. The out of focus deers nicely lead the eye in. If you have space, then including the complete face of the deer on the left and right would look better. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice behaviour captured. The pano crop works in this to maintain the focus on the deers. Thanks for sharing.

[Anuradha Nautiyal]

Hey Praveen, This is a very beautiful moment. Thanks for sharing