Built for the kill?
Photo was taken on June 17, 2012 and description is relevant as per that day:
I spent a lot of time deciding to upload this pic or not.
IQ wise, this is not good, but otherwise it looks a bit brutal too!
I understand this is a perfectly natural commotion but I was not totally prepared to see this.
Last week, after a rather dull morning, I was heading back home on my bike.
I saw this Shikra (I hope I got the Id right), fly very close to ground (7-8 feet), left to right very close to me and picked up this lizard.
I flew back with the lizard struggling hopelessly.
I followed the bird and all though it was high on the tree, I could manage to stand below and take a series of shots (30+). This is a highly cropped image and made brighter with Photoshop.
The lighting was too awkward.
While looking via the view finder, I could see the last struggle of the lizard.
It was a hopeless struggle, it was well within the grips and there was no way to escape.
I felt sad but that's how is Nature !
The Shikra is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae found widely distributed in Asia and Africa where it is also called the Little Banded Goshawk. The African forms may represent a separate species but have usually been considered as subspecies of the Shikra. The Shikra is very similar in appearance to other sparrowhawk species including the Chinese Goshawk and Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
comments (3)
This particular photo I choose cause the eyes of the bird look less scary. In a few which I clicked, the bird looks more cruel. Again this is just my view. That bird is just feeding itself. He could even take the rest to his babies and their survival depends on that lizard.
Posted 8 years ago