Kookaburra Killing Lorikeet.

[hotspur]

Captured this Kookaburra capturing this small baby lorikeet and then taking up into branches and smacking hard against the tree branch-the noises was very loud.I think kookaburra's believe in the maxim 'Over kill is better than under kill',I quickly manouvered into the best position.Used manual mode-the trees leaves kept shading and then moving to allow sun light on him,so I had to work the settings-eventually settled on F 5.6 speed 640 and iso 400,and aimed for his eye to get the all important eye glint,I was lucky to have time to change focus point and grab more shots.Just amazing stuff to see with your own eyes!

Hope these are of interest-thanks for looking,Cheers Chris

[PCH]

Chris,

wow, what a moment to capture. And boy didn't you captured it well. Poor little fella though - what a miserable end :sadeyes:

As a matter of interest, do the kookaburras eat them? Anybody know?

[hotspur]

Ah-that's noth'en-you wait till I get over to the Phillipines with my 900mm F2.8 canon and 5DV and capture a Monkey eating Eagle,with prey:lol: (gotta have some fantasy in life:lol:).

Glad you enjoyed the capture.cheers:thumbsup:BTW yes they eat small birds.

[Dennis]

A wonderful wildlife documentary Chris – will you be taking over from David Attenborough when he retires!;)

Top quality effort and nice description of the field craft involved.:thumbsup:

I guess the little fella would have gone into shock quite quickly.:sadeyes:

Cheers

Dennis

[rcheshire]

And I thought they ate lizards, snakes and frogs, and chops off the BBQ when your back is turned. Beautiful quality Chris, grossly unique.

[Rick Petrie]

Bit disturbing....but that's nature I guess. Good 'capture' shot though.

[Paddy]

Stunning shots Chris. Beautifully documented - a tasty meal and a miserable end at the same time. I suppose overkill is a good idea if you routinely catch snakes. Saw a Kooka eating a baby Brown snake at our place the other day.

[SkySearcher]

Wow, that's amazing. Does that make Kookaburra's cannibals?
Well seen and taken.

[bmitchell82]

they are 100% carnivors :) I used to feed them minced meat they would land on my hand and chomp it up nom nom nom. So a baby bird would be no different!

Great shot too! Grewsom but real!

[Kal]

Really nice photos there Chris, great capture!

[traveller]

To quote Monty Python "it's a dead parrot, an ex-parrot, it ceased to be"... such is nature.
I believe kookas are the largest of the kingfisher family and capable of eating quite large prey compared to its body size.
Well done Chris.
Bo

[midnight]

That's a fascinating set of photos there Chris.

Nature captured in true life. Well done on the presentation.

Darrin...

[iceman]

Excellent shots of a rarely seen event.

[Octane]

The first two images look like they were over-exposed and have been pulled back in post. If not, not sure how to explain the flatness on the kookaburra's body. The rest of the scene doesn't suffer from the same flatness.

Fascinating moment, though. I feel for the baby lorikeet!

H

[hotspur]

Good pick up H,I felt the same after I saw these PP'ed images,and was not entirely happy.I re worked them,and felt better with results,thanks for your view point.

Yes,thanks all for feed back from those who left comment.

Just got word from my agent in the U.K,these images and the story are
creating some interest-see links.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062782/No-laughing-matter-Photographer-captures-Kookaburras-seriously-super-sized-lunch.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8895956/Pictures-of-the-day-17-November-2011.html?image=10

Cheers Chris

[niko]

"bushland"

LOL