BSK - Aerial Display

[Tushar Dixit]

A record shot from archives. We witnessed an awesome aerial display by BSK during a weekend birding in Nov last year. We had positioned ourselves flat on the ground to click larks and suddenly this pair appeared trying to lock their talons as part of aerial display. I have read that BSK do this as part of courtship and defending their territory, but this looked more like a play and involved mainly touch and go. That may be because one of them looks to be a Juvenile and this may be a practice for more serious situations later. Would love to know more from experts. Clicked under cloudy conditions. Wish the light was better.

EOS 7D, 400mm f/5.6L @ f/7.1, 1/1250, ISO 400. C&C most welcome!

[Mrudul Godbole]

Wow nice behaviour captured. I liked the wing spread and the eye contact. Wish the lower one was also looking down. Nice details. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Fine aerial display. Wish the light was better. I think ISO 800 would have been even better.

These fellows are pretty fast. I have never seen these guys doing these aerial twists within the range of my lens. So have only watched and not photographed. The last time i saw two of them doing these displays, one flew off and the other came and sat close to us.

The mating happens on treetops. I think the two fellows here were practicing for larger battles ahead.

I am sure next time you will get them in better lighting conditions. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

Lovely image. The wing spread looks nice. Opening up the shadows a bit more would be nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Sandesh Astgikar]

Amezing shot
Love the wing spread