Steppe Eagle..

Dear All,
Steppe Eagle from the Black Buck Sanctuary, Tal Chapar,Rajasthan. Tal Chaper is raptor heaven and if you are shown around by Mr. Surat Singh Poonia, the ACF who has single handedly converted this utter wasteland into a grassland of exquisite beauty, in his rickety all terrain Maruti 800, all you need is a medium lens to get full frame shots of these beautiful aquilas.

EOS7D+ 300 f2.8 II + 1.4x III @ F8, 1/1250

Look forward to comments.

Cheers
Dipankar

Wow! Beautiful image Dipankar, good to know that one can spot them from close range.
tfs

Lovely eye contact. Good details. The catch light looks nice. I liked the vertical composition. It is good to know that the ACF has turned this place into a heaven for raptors. The f8 has helped to get the body in focus. Look forward to see more raptors. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely. Nice eye contact and good angle. Were you shooting from the vehicle? Did you stay there? I hope visit this place soon.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Dear Sabyasachi,
We were shooting from the vehicle, but it being a maruti 800, the window level is pretty low and the raptor was on a slight elevation.
The Resthouse in the forest has 5 rooms and has recently been taken on lease by Anu and our birder friend Sharad Sridhar for a period of 5 years to run it like a lodge under the PPP model.So you are most welcome there.
There are night trains to Sujangarh/ Ratangarh so a quick dash on friday night and back monday morning is exteremely viable.
Regards
Dipankar