Death in Sri Lanka

[Stephen_C]

Taken in Yala National Park last month.

Stephen

 

[MrFotoFool]

Great action shot! Not many people actually witness a scene like that (especially with elusive sri lanka leopards).

 

[2n10]

Great shot, congrats and well done

 

[Ryan708]

very nice. What lens, if I may ask?

 

[Menace]

Thats a really nice shot - well done.

 

[anand]

very good. Including the habitat would have been awesome.

 

[HeavenHell]

Very nice do you have some of it having dinner?

 

[Stephen_C]

Many thanks for the kind comments.

There is a story to go with the photo. We had watched this leopard for an hour. It sat first under a tree and it was at that stage I (very fortunately, as it turned out) fitted the 1.4x extender to the 300mm f.2.8L lens I was using. After jumping into the tree (and disappearing) it then jumped down again and went to drink at a nearby lake. Following that it climbed on to a small, grassy mound near the lake. I never considered that provided sufficient cover for stalking but a small herd of spotted deer approached the lake to drink, quite oblivious to the leopard's presence. The leopard took 16 seconds from starting stalking to impact with its victim. (The impact itself was behind a bush that obscured my view so I did not photograph that.) It was then another minute until I took the final shot (attached) - which is why we did not see the leopard eating.

I hope this answers all questions but if you have others just let me know.

Stephen