B2 - Grand Old Patriarch

This is B2. The Grand old patriarch in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

To the uninitiated, B2 is the code name (given by a naturalist) and it got converted to Bittu and stuck as his nick name.

Perhaps in its last leg in its life's journey, his strength has waned a bit and range has shrunk. His son, the Mahaman Male whom I had photographed mating ( Mating Behaviour of Tigers - Indiawilds: Land of the Tiger. Conservation, Wildlife Photography, Communities )with the Siddhababa tigress (now dead) is dominating the tala and magdhi zones in bandhavgarh and has pushed Bittu to the Mirchahani area. Bittu no longer prefers to have his afternoon siesta in the ghoda daman area.

This image was created after he had his fill from a Sambar kill made by the Mirchahani female and offspring.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS II USM, EF 2xII TC, full frame image. Minor processing in Lightroom 3.3.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Lovely pose. It has always been a pleasure photographing him. I liked the eye contact and the raised paw. Good details. You have a vertical composition? Thanks for sharing.

Nice head on image with the raised paw.Eye contact is engaging.Doesnt seem to have lost out on his charms....
TFS
Roopak

I like the raised paw...there seems to be shadow on his face, would have loved to see some light falling on the face region:) same question: did you try a vertical?

Cheers

Bhargava

The right eye (ie. the eye on the left of the frame) is in light as the light is from the left.

I knew you guys will ask for a vertical. I immediately turned to vertical mode, however, he moved into the shadows.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

love this image..... I like the horizontal shadow on the ground... nature imitating the tigers stripes... :-)