Something's suspicious

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Mating pair of Tiger beetles

With the onset of a healthy premonsoons(atleast in the previous weekend) there had been good bloom of life along the trail, including the huge number of, a variety of, tiger beetles. With them, there had been many mating pairs flocking around the trail, though the initial ones were too tough to frame, this particular one, encountered mid way of the trail, seemed a bit too lethargic to run away from us and so were easier to get framed, but there was something odd, atleast momentarily.
While we set ourselves on the ground and get our gear in the right positions for good framing, witnessed, for about 15-20 sec, the female started shaking itself vigorously, not sure if it was to throw off the male that had caught it by its jaws or was it to scare off the unsuspecting ants that was advancing towards them. Despite the continuous effort, the male, though a bit unsettled with it initially, clinched onto the back and later moved on with the mating procedure.

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro + 25mm extension tube
F/11
Shutterspeed 1/125
ISO 640
Placed on ground, External flash remotely triggered

Location: Nagla trail

[Roshni Patel]

Detailing and Body color captured are looking really beautiful

[Mrudul Godbole]

Agree with Roshni, the colours have come out well. The low angle looks good. In animal behavior, I had read that unless the female is interested, it won't allow the male to continue with the mating. So in this case, if they continued, then the initial shaking might be only to divert the ants, not sure though. Thanks for sharing.