Bringing home the bacon

Posted by Rich S on Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:51 pm

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Well, actually not bringing home the bacon!

Dave's and Carol's posts have inspired me to go back and try and finishing editing my Tanzanian shots this summer.

We had excellent luck with cheetahs, albeit not a successful hunt. This isn't one of my best shots - too much heat shimmer and even at 1/1600 I haven't frozen the cheetah.

A cheetah doesn't really hunt a warthog since a cheetah kills by strangulation and a warthog's neck makes it near impossible for a cheetah to strangle. Warthogs know this and will walk right up to a cheetah and force it to move. This cheetah, however, was having a bad day since the warthog had just alerted gazelles to the cheetah's presence, and the cheetah proceeded to let the warthog know where it fit on the food chain.

1D2, 500 & 1.4TC, 1/1600 at f8, ISO 400 (rotated about .7 degrees but otherwise full frame horizontally and cropped to pano).

Rich

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by E.J. Peiker on Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:48 pm

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Cool action here!

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by NDCheryl on Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:48 pm

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May not be a good shot technically but the action is cool.

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by Steve Metildi on Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:04 am

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Great action shot!

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by DC on Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:09 am

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I think this is great. The shimmer, slightly blurred cheetah, (does a 1DII shoot fast enough to freeze a cheetah

), and the pano crop make for an excellent image. I just wonder if the two Thomies frame left should be cropped out ?

Dave
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by Carol Clarke on Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:28 am

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Good catch of the action Rich! It clearly shows the grace and style of the running Cheetah, the hilarious tail-up galloping Wart Hog and the Wildebeest as an observer. The heat shimmer really shows the conditions on the African plains. All in all - pretty successful I would say!

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by Paul Skoczylas on Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:01 pm

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Cool!

So the cheetah has no intention of killing/eating the pig? He's just trying to scare him away?

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by Rich S on Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:07 pm

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Paul Skoczylas wrote:Cool!

So the cheetah has no intention of killing/eating the pig? He's just trying to scare him away?

-Paul

Basically, yes. I left the gazelles in on the far right because the cheetah was waiting patiently for them as they grazed their way towards the cheetah. When "bacon" walked up to the cheetah, he alerted the gazelles to the cheetah's presence, and the cheetah got testy. The actual chase didn't last two seconds, but I think "bacon" ran for about 30 seconds after the cheetah turned and went back to lay down.

Rich

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by abiggs on Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:37 pm

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Great capture, Rich. Where was this taken? This definitely has a Serengeti look to it, but I cannot put my finger on where.

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by Rich S on Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:07 pm

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abiggs wrote:Great capture, Rich. Where was this taken? This definitely has a Serengeti look to it, but I cannot put my finger on where.

Just to tease you Andy, those yellow and blue flowers should be a giveaway. Your guess?

Rich

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by abiggs on Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:09 pm

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Man, I must be losing it. I see those flowers all of the time, and at different locations. This is a huge patch of them in Ngorongoro, another large patch near the swamps at Tarangire, and I just don't know where at Serengeti NP. I give up!

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by Rich S on Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:51 pm

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Hate to break the news, but it's in the Crater. It's the one place where - for me - the yellow and blue/purple flowers just really stand out. And the brighter blue in the background is a bit of Lake Magadi. When I have time, I'll post a field of the yellow in the "hand of man" forum!

Rich

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by abiggs on Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:14 pm

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I see, said the blind man. When were you there? I was there for 2.5 days around July 10, and Lake Magadi was absolutely bone dry. Very early in the season for that, unfortunately. June usually has a wonderful population of adult crater and lesser flamingo, but we weren't so lucky this time around.

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by Rich S on Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:29 pm

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We were there from May 24 to June 6 with our stay in the Crater about the middle of the period. I try to stay 4 days at the Crater. It actually was rainy in the Serengeti when we were there - very nice green backgrounds - and the Crater was as dry as I expected it to be at the end of June. Moving just north of Amboseli, however, they had absolutely nothing for their long rains so I fear that there is much suffering now. Strange how within a 200 mile range (as the crow flies) you can have such great climate changes.

Rich

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by abiggs on Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:31 pm

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You should spend some time at Tarangire in late September and through October. An amazing place, as all of the animals finish their annual migrations from Manyara and to the northeast, through the protected wildlife areas. Tarangire River is the only major source of water for miles and miles, and the vantage points to photograph is incredible. Give it a shot sometime.

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by Rich S on Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:39 pm

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I've been to Tarangire but too early in the year, I think, and my schedule precludes any visit in Sept or Oct. The vegetation was too high early (July) but with the hills and the river through it was clear that it had potential if/when the vegetation dried up.

Rich

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