Bateleur eagles from Botswana - lifer for me

[Udall1973]

What an array of birds of prey in Botswana and Zambia! Unreal variety including these strikingly beautiful black and tawny eagles with scarlet faces. Took a ton of shots and just now getting through them. The 200-600mm G OSS 5.6-6.3 performed like a champ and in our vehicles the 600mm f/4 would have been way to big. Took an a9 as backup to the a1 but the a1 was flawless. Battery life was very good and I could go a session without running low on charge. That said I took 5 batteries! Took a 24-70mm Sigma 2.8, 70-200 f/4 Sony, and the 200-600mm. Dusty and hot environment had a towel to put over the cameras when running on dirt (which was all the time). Putting together a portfolio on SmugMug with the best of my 9k photos taken over 16 days.

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[SonoranDesert]

Really really nice shot. It’s a photo lifer for me! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Udall1973]

Really really nice shot. It’s a photo lifer for me! Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks, Lisa. Much appreciated!

Andrew

 

[Erik Krig]

Very nice image of these raptors.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Interesting looking bird. Congrats on the captures.

 

[RichF]

Nice captures. Glad you were able to add them to your list.

 

[ssheipel]

Wow, great looking bird; their feathers seem so angular! Nice shot!

 

[DanG]

Very unique. Congratulations and safe travels.

 

[Udall1973]

Very nice image of these raptors.

Thanks Erik - so much of Wildlife in Africa are lifers.

 

[Udall1973]

Very unique. Congratulations and safe travels.

Thanks, Dan. We made it back safely but travel in the time of Covid isn't easy and isn't fun. Most definitely not inexpensive! Regards, Andrew

 

[Udall1973]

Wow, great looking bird; their feathers seem so angular! Nice shot!

So many birds in Africa are "head scratchers". Dinosaurs really. Thanks for your kind words. Regards, Andrew

 

[Udall1973]

Nice captures. Glad you were able to add them to your list.

Thanks, Rich. Trip of a lifetime. The Sony performed like a champ. Time to sleep for a week! Regards, Andrew.

 

[Udall1973]

Interesting looking bird. Congrats on the captures.

Thanks so much. Steve's video on what to take to Botswana was helpful to say the least.

 

[Rassie]

Udall, this is a great shot. I do think you can improve it significantly with some post processing. The colors here are way more muted than in real life. I would do three things: Increase exposure, contrast, and color saturation.