Shikra Male

[Roopak Gangadharan]

This male was intently looking at something below and I cud almost imagine it deliberately tapping its talons on the tree trunk, waiting and biding for the right time to swoop down on its prey which I couldn't see. It kept staring and bobbing its head for about 5 minutes before taking off. No dive bombing, screeching prey or flying feathers. No images with the kill either...:D

Disappointed I got up to see why and was not surprised to see that the prey it was eyeing was a black drongo a brave heart among birds if you see one.

500D 55-250, 250mm, AE, F7.1, ISO 400, SS1/250, cropped image.

Rgds
Roopak

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice intent look captured. Good observation of its behavior. Seems there is some loss in details due to the crop. Good you could observe and capture this behavior. Thanks for sharing.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Nice image roopak bhai. Sometimes we expect the prey to be something obvious but it shows how little we know whats going on in the predators head. Thanks for letting us know, Thanks for sharing.

[Rajeev Khanna]

super image it almost seems that the bird is weaving side to side with the head bobbing up and down in anticipation of a meal

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good that the head is infront and in sunlight. The pose is nice. The bark looks good. Watching it with a kill would have been great. Drongos are fearless and often chase shikras. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi