Hunters in the spotlight

I couldn't join last SMAP, since I normally tend not to have persons on photos; but as for this week's theme, Raptors, they're probably my favourite winged photo subjects!

It's hard to get decent raptor photos, since I normally see them fly high in the skies, and if they are perched, they tend to escape before I can get near enough for a decent photo. But there's one species up to date, that proved to be my best raptor model EVER!

^{Changeable hawk-eagle - Nisaetus cirrhatus}

It was in Udawalawe National Park, in Sri Lanka, that I came across not one, not 2, but 3 different animal of this amazing species... and all of them perched!!

I'm gessing they're more or less used to the safari jeeps, since they seem to remain calm even when the jeeps stops for a long time near their location, if a decent distance is kept.

They're also called crested hawk-eagle, and looking at the photos it's easy to see why. They are an abundant species, with different colour morphs, light and dark. The first one I've found was the light kind; but the darker kind appeared shortly after, on another tree.

This one wasn't too keen to pose for the photos. But the third one.... oh, the third one was the star of the show.

I almost drove my buddies to madness (and probably the guide too), given the amount of time I asked them to take photos. But c'mon... how many times do we get the chance to see a big eagle perched in the wild, so close?

This one changed position a few times, but not leaving that branch; scouting the horizon, and completely ignoring us.

It was time to go, eventually; a ton more species were roaming the park, and I got my belly full of eagles. But yep...no doubt, by far my best raptor model up to date! 🙂

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