
The stare of a crested hawk-eagle in Bannerghatta National Park.
This was shot in 2018 during a trip to Bangalore. A kindergarten friend of mine decided to head to Bannerghatta National Park for sighting some wildlife. Three of us headed for a nice getaway with our stay in one of the jungle lodges.
Since I was traveling, I didn’t have usual 800mm. I landed up renting a 600mm and D5 from Bangalore. My wish was to capture as many animals we see, but I was really looking forward to get a nice shot of a tiger. During the safari outings, I did have a good place in the jeep and saw quite a lot of animals and birds. There was some mad rush to couple of spots to see if we could get lucky in sighting a tiger. We kept following the alarm calls of the monkeys and waited for long time at the locations too, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now I’m certain that all the alarm calls were to warn other animals of our presence 🙂
During one of those drives, we spotted this fella, perched up high on a dead tree. At first sight, I was confused whether it was an eagle or hawk and then my friend corrected me saying its a crested hawk-eagle aka Changeable Hawk-Eagle. I still remember the stare from this guy and how beautiful it looked. Hoping I get some more clear shots during my next visit.