Raptor and snake

My buddy Bruce has kicked his cancer. Hallelujah. All clean. I love the guy, was very worried about him.

He took a very rare day off today and accompanied me to the wildlife reserve. Bruce has always had a very sharp eye, he spotted this large red tailed hawk first.

It was sitting on the ground. We didn't know that he had a snake in his clutches. Lucky us.

I shot my 400mm handheld all day. Thing is so heavy it is like carrying an anvil around. And we hiked.

What I didn't know was that the VR was switched off.

Pictures maybe could have been a tad sharper but I am grateful for what I got!

I always feel good when I get raptors carrying snakes. It is so cool.

I had turned the vibration reduction off when I was shooting off the tripod. Forgot to turn it back on.

I am glad that it really isn't all that necessary. Especially when you are shooting wide open at 1/3200th of a second.