Choderboy wrote in post #19259997
I've always seen value in talking about human errors.
I had been watching a White-bellied sea eagle killing a Little black cormorant.
It was a long drawn out process. Soon after the Eagle caught the Cormorant, it was holding it down and starting to eat it.
The Cormorant escaped and tried to swim away. It was clearly severely injured but did an amazing job swimming while keeping a lookout for the Eagle and diving as the Eagle tried to grab it again. After about 15 minutes, with the now 2 Eagles attempting to get it, the Cormorant failed to dive deep enough and was dragged out of the water and onto land. I thought the poor Cormorant would finally be put out of it's misery but the Eagle at first perched away from it then went to it and watched for a bit before again leaving it and going back to it's perch. The Cormorant was still showing signs of life and I was unable to see if it finally died or was still alive at least 30 minutes after the initial attack. There was zero chance of survival.
I spend a lot of time in the bush observing Birds and Wildlife and have seen a lot of predation. This event was hard to watch. It's rare to get a good view of a Sea eagle (and they are high on my list of awesome animals that I try to see and photograph) let alone such a long event as this. I love the Little blacks.
So a truly bitter sweet event.
Almost immediately after the Eagle last left the Cormorant a pair of Spotted pardalotes arrived close to me. Average time I get to try and get one in my viewfinder is a few seconds and may only get a few chances a year. This is where I well and truly stuffed up! Camera was on tripod and I loosened the clamp on the ball head as I was going to go handheld but one of the Pardalotes came closer and to an unobstructed view so away I shot. Unbelievably the two birds hung around for about a minute. Once the Pardys left, I grabbed tripod and swung it up to my shoulder, with the clamp still loose, and soon after heard the ugly sound of expensive demolition.
Safety stops on my lens plate would probably have saved the day. Almost 20 years of not using them has never been an issue but that run of no issue ended today.
The Sea eagle and the Pardolotes:
I've always seen value in talking about human errors.
I had been watching a White-bellied sea eagle killing a Little black cormorant.
It was a long drawn out process. Soon after the Eagle caught the Cormorant, it was holding it down and starting to eat it.
The Cormorant escaped and tried to swim away. It was clearly severely injured but did an amazing job swimming while keeping a lookout for the Eagle and diving as the Eagle tried to grab it again. After about 15 minutes, with the now 2 Eagles attempting to get it, the Cormorant failed to dive deep enough and was dragged out of the water and onto land. I thought the poor Cormorant would finally be put out of it's misery but the Eagle at first perched away from it then went to it and watched for a bit before again leaving it and going back to it's perch. The Cormorant was still showing signs of life and I was unable to see if it finally died or was still alive at least 30 minutes after the initial attack. There was zero chance of survival.
I spend a lot of time in the bush observing Birds and Wildlife and have seen a lot of predation. This event was hard to watch. It's rare to get a good view of a Sea eagle (and they are high on my list of awesome animals that I try to see and photograph) let alone such a long event as this. I love the Little blacks.
So a truly bitter sweet event.
Almost immediately after the Eagle last left the Cormorant a pair of Spotted pardalotes arrived close to me. Average time I get to try and get one in my viewfinder is a few seconds and may only get a few chances a year. This is where I well and truly stuffed up! Camera was on tripod and I loosened the clamp on the ball head as I was going to go handheld but one of the Pardalotes came closer and to an unobstructed view so away I shot. Unbelievably the two birds hung around for about a minute. Once the Pardys left, I grabbed tripod and swung it up to my shoulder, with the clamp still loose, and soon after heard the ugly sound of expensive demolition.
Safety stops on my lens plate would probably have saved the day. Almost 20 years of not using them has never been an issue but that run of no issue ended today.
The Sea eagle and the Pardolotes:
Hosted photo: posted by Choderboy in
./showthread.php?p=19259997&i=i111440383
forum: Sony Digital Cameras
./showthread.php?p=19259997&i=i111440383
forum: Sony Digital Cameras
Hosted photo: posted by Choderboy in
./showthread.php?p=19259997&i=i73318252
forum: Sony Digital Cameras
./showthread.php?p=19259997&i=i73318252
forum: Sony Digital Cameras
Your Sea Eagle has a very striking resemblance to what we call here in the US an Osprey.
I think we all get distracted at one time or another when photographing subjects and an accident can occur. Good you have insurance, although your deductible may bite you a bit, that's when it hurts.
