An excited call from my son had me grabbing my camera.
Gymnogene or African Harrier Hawk.
What a treat this was!
Photographed atop one of the trees across the road.
Some of you may remember me posting a couple of shots of one of these magnificent raptors being harried by a Pied Crow a while back?
This time there were was no crow to worry about!
Not the best shot, I’m afraid but not too bad considering the poor light and the distance.
Ark
A Tale Unfolds 
Wow. How exciting for you and us too. 🙂 Male or female? Whatever, it has got its eye on you.
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Have no idea of the sex. I’ll have to post the photo on a specialist SA bird site on FB and see if one of the experts can tell?
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VERY cool … !!!
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And then some. 🙂
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What a magnificent creature! Glad your son had his wits about him! 🙂
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He was alerted because the cats were staring upwards, mesmerized and when he realised what they were staring at he yelled for me.
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The cats were MORE than mesmerized! More like… “Umm chaps, how do we escape being lunch? What’s our EXIT plan/strategy, QUICK!” 😆
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As the bird left the tree in our garden one cat – Ginger -high-tailed it to the back door and bolted inside!
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🤣🤣🤣 Smart kitty cat!
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Gorgeous bird. Very exciting to have such a fine visitor and manage to get the shot before they left. Well done sir.
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I am feeling somewhat chuffed, that’s no maybe!
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Nice one Ark!
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Gracias, Mr B. A very fortunate encounter.
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Wow! Fantastic shot!
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Was very fortunate. Thank you for the compliment.
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A beauty
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Indeed he/she is.
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Wonderful treat. thanks.
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The pleasure is all mine!
🙂
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“Not the best shot“? WTH Ark! It looks pretty effin great to me, worthy of the cover of National Geographic you silly, retired hooligan Redder of Anfield! Give yourself some credit you L’pooler sittin’ atop the Table of the world’s most competitive league! Geeezzzz. 🙄🤭
I do indeed remember that shot of a crow acting all big and tough. Protecting chicklins or fledglings from the fierce predator I’d imagine, right?
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Well, thank you kind sir. It would have turned out better if the bird had sat a little longer.
I was still a bit out of breath from grabbing the camera, legging it outside and yelling to my son…. ”Where is it!”
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Lovely shot. But if you want a real challenge, photograph a New Zealand fantail~! We have a couple working our hedge (the white-eyes seems to have moved on) and they provoke an awesome amount of naughty words from this guy’s camera. Perhaps I should cheat, movie them and remove a still of two …
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Oh oh! The games are afoot! The Kiwi has laid down the challenge. The crowd goes “Oooooooo!” and gasps. What will Arkesatan’s retort be?
(Que the waiting Jeopardy show tune…)
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Nice …
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Photograph a fantail? From my perspective one very immediate problem springs to mind.
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You can swim, can’t you? Pack a sandwich and who needs airlines?
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What an amazing bird! Thank you for introducing me to yet another new and glorious creature.
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Was as much a thrill for me.
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