A "Taste" of my weekend (graphic nature warning)

Well this weekend I went birding out in the wetlands, as the birthing season is upon us, and all the young birds are being nursed in preparation for flights back north. I still have lots of processing to go through before I can post the results...but I did have to run a quick process on at least one shot that I thought was interesting and worth sharing.



Again...warning that this is mother nature and the circle of life and all that - so it is a wee bit gruesome for those not wanting to see the circle of life in action!



While walking the trails through the wetlands, I noticed a large alligator cruising towards the opposite shore. I was busy shooting a purple gallinule in a bush when I heard what sounded like a shotgun shell going off - all the birds within earshot started squawking and some fluttering into the air. I spun in the direction of the shotgun blast, which was the general vicinity of that big gator I saw cruising earlier, and noticed a great big splash as he had his huge body up on the shore, partially out of the water.


I rattled off a few dozen shots in burst - some came out great and some were a mess of splashing and thrashing. I grabbed one of those shots early and resized it to post here now, before I get to processing the rest over the next weekend.


That great big gator had snatched a large turtle, the shotgun crack was those jaws snapping down with hundreds of pounds of pressure onto that shell.




It's graphic...not terribly so, as it just looks like a gator eating some meat.



It's not bloody or anything...but I know how squeamish some friends of mine are about such things, so that's why the big warning here.



I just didn't want anyone to click innocently and not expect to see an alligator eating a turtle.


That should be enough space to keep it off the first view, right?


OK...here it is!

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This is a great shot Justin, and my questions mimic those already asked.

 

Thanks guys. Yeah, I was using the big Tamron 200-500, fully maxed out at 500mm. Though I do walk around trails with alligators, I tend to be pretty careful and stay alert...I was very happy that this big guy was on the opposite shore. I was probably 100 yards or so away, give or take. I was using my tripod as a monopod to steady myself (and happy that my camera has in-body stabilization to help). I've got about 20 shots in burst from one angle behind him, then I moved a few dozen feet down the trail to get more of a side view, and bursted another 20 or so as he was chomping down. This is from the side view series. When I process them, I'll share a few from the behind view series when he first grabbed the turtle.

 

Can't wait to see those other shots! Thanks for posting. I got an e-mail from my brother-in-law with 2 bald eagles trying to get a duck then attacking one another. It's a great few shots, if anyone is interested in seeing them, I can forward the e-mail to your e-mail, just send me a PM with it.

 

Have I seen that already? Does your BIL post on other photo sites? Because I think I may have seen a post - the subject sounds exactly like the series I saw!

I hope to get alot more processing done tonight and tomorrow - mostly just picking out the good from the bad, cropping a few, then resizing and uploading the ones I think are worth posting. But with well over 500 pics, it takes a while, and I've got work taking up the days and other home duties eating into more time (like minding the yard and pool, which are drier/emptier respectively due to our several months without any measurable rain).

 

very cool Justin!
Nice Job

 

Re: A "Taste" - More of the graphic burst sequence (6 pics)

Here are the rest of the shots that came out decent enough out of my burst shots of this wild scene.

The first is when he first grabbed the turtle:



He's got it hoisted up out of the air, and you can identify it by the flippers.

After the initial grab, he sat there holding the turtle for a while (reptiles are always quite slow and dramatic when they eat - lots of pauses!). That gave me time to reposition for a better view. Then he started the chomp-down:



Lots of throwing up his head to see if it was chewed enough to get down his gullet:



Chomp chomp chomp:



Another pause while he bites down on the shell:



And there goes a tasty morsel as the rest slides out the side of his mouth:



He finished his whole meal eventually...gold star at the Prime Time for this guy.

Obviously not every frame of the burst was a keeper, but these were at least fairly decent - I weeded out the redundant ones or not-so-good ones.

It's graphic...but hey - that's nature doing its thing! Hope those of you who can see these types of things enjoyed it.

 

Oh yeah...ate the whole thing! You can kind of tell a piece of the shell has been eaten in the last shot. Those shells are more leathery than the land tortoises...but I wouldn't want to eat it.

 

Nah, I thought the shots were great! Of course doing what I Do, I would have liked to have seen even more graphic, but it is a family site. Anyway, Thanks for posting, I loved the sequence Justin!

 

Deniz...thanks for putting yourself through the queasies to check out the photos!

and thanks Polynesianmedic for checking them out, even though they weren't graphic enough!

 

I was going to ask if it made me a bad person if was wishing the zoom had a bit more reach, but it looks like Poly was thinking the same thing

 

I always seem to wish I had more reach - if I have a 250mm, I wish I had 400. If I use 400, I wish I had 500. So I use a 500, and lo-and-behold...I wish I had 1,000!

But then I see someone walking with a 1,000mm lens (hobbling is more like it)...and I suddenly am very pleased with my 500mm lens again.

 

put me in with poly and ray, only I was wishing you could have gotten a straighter on viewpoint!

very cool Justin

 

Well I'm stuck with 500mm max at the moment...and I'm NOT getting any closer to that big of an alligator!