The Circle of Life

Gallery: AvianPosted September 3, 2011256 views9 comments

It's not often that the scavengers of the African bush can have a party like this...An elephant presumably died of natural causes in the far north of the Kruger National Park, and provided a reason for hundreds of White-backed Vultures to celebrate. The death of a gentle giant is always sad, yet such is the harsh reality of life in the wilderness. One must die so others can live, and so the cycle goes...

Capturing a significant moment or effective composition amidst such chaos as I witnessed here is tricky at the best of times...I hope I succeeded in doing that.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 98mm
f7.1 @ 1/500 SS @ ISO-1400

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Sally King on September 3, 2011 at 7:01 PM

I love how you captured the motion of the one flying down. Too bad to have to cut off birds on both sides but it does give a feel that this hoard of birds just goes on. Nice detail and the lighting is warm. Looks almost like an artwork. How cool to be able to photograph something like this.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on September 3, 2011 at 7:40 PM

Nature goes on and images like this allow all of us to experience, at least somewhat, how some animals live and die. I'm wondering how long you observed this feast? It appears at the time of exposure here, there were only gut and possibly eye and mouth feeding points. Excellent capture and presentation, Morkel.

Charlie

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on September 3, 2011 at 7:48 PM

Very effective image - nice light, good perspective and great subject.
Really good work!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Palmieri on September 3, 2011 at 9:53 PM

Nice job on this one Morkel. Tells a good (maybe sad) story. I think you caught enough interesting things here to make sense of a chaotic scene. TFS

Registered on September 1, 2011, 35 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on September 4, 2011 at 2:19 PM

Morkel, you already know my thoughts on this, but you forgot to add the note about the stench and if it's like a dead whale carcass, I know why you didn't spend too long there.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Christine Jackson on September 4, 2011 at 6:32 PM

Morkel,

Excellent image!!! Beautiful light you have captured here and the detail is exquisite. This is a masterpiece!

Jim and Chrisie Jackson
Denver, Colorado

Registered on September 19, 2010, 20 Posts, 244 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on September 4, 2011 at 7:24 PM

Wow, great capture, lots of action and sharpness throughout the image.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on September 6, 2011 at 5:27 PM

Very interesting and compelling scene but one that I feel you have captured very well, it is very hard to come away with a good image with so much going on, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on September 7, 2011 at 2:30 AM

Thank you so much for the kind feedback, folks.

Steve - the smell was horrendous!!

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments