We recently returned from a trip to the Kalahari, taking in the Augrabies National Park (link to blog) before heading once again into the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

It was a difficult journey there this time.  Extreme weather  in the Western Cape Province had badly damaged roads and other infrastructure, forcing a lengthy detour around the closure of Meiringspoort, and as we drove through heavy rain for most most of the first leg. Nevertheless, it was worth the effort.

The Kgalagadi had been transformed by good rains that lasted well into May.   Grass stood high and dense in the river beds, drawing large herds of game, especially Springbok and Gemsbok and bird life was prolific – especially the smaller raptors: kites, falcons and goshawks.

This post is about one particular sighting:  a juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk that seemed to take on more than it could handle

On our first full day, still finding my rhythm with action photography, we stopped to observe a Pale Chanting Goshawk perched in a tangle of twigs atop a large bush – not an ideal photograph , but the start of the story.

time  –  10:30:59.440

Sometimes it pays to just wait and see if something develops and  I hoped for a “take-off” shot which would also serve as some of my practice.   Sure enough it obliged

time  –  10:32:42.040

time  –  10:32:45.270

Then it came in to land in the same bush. 

time  –  10:32:46.320

That felt like a solid fly-around with some very acceptable images banked.  The goshawk perched for a few minutes, and I assumed the action was over.  But I decided to wait a little longer, on the chance it would take off again.  It did – except, this time, instead of circling, it dropped straight to the ground.

time  –  10:36:27.560

Only then did I notice a Yellow Mongoose in the foreground.  The goshawk looked around, then fixed its attention on the mongoose –  which, I‘m fairly sure, had been watching it the whole time.   The mongoose, however, seemed distracted, or perhaps already thinking about heading back to its burrow; it certainly wasn’t looking at the goshawk when the bird suddenly launched itself into the air.

time  –  10:37:32.510

The goshawk was now clearly committed, closing fast on the mongoose that still appeared to be looking the other way.

time  –  10:37:32.640    130 milliseconds later

time  –  10:37:32.840   200 milliseconds later

time  –   10:37:33.590  550 milliseconds later

The goshawk flinched.  Flaps down, undercarriage retracted, it pulled out of the strike mid-air. 

time  –  10:37:33.710.    70 milliseconds later (three frames)

You can just make out the goshawk’ shadow as it passes over the mongoose, glancing down – almost as if to say “that wasn’t a good idea”

time  –  10:37:33.810    100 milliseconds later (four frames)

The timing alone tells the story: the goshawk had visibly slowed in the air to avoid the confrontation..

In the next two frames, the goshawk has passed the mongoose entirely – which hasn’t budged an inch, as if to say “that was no big deal”.

time  –  10:37:34.540

time  –  10:37:34.640

From the moment the goshawk left  the ground to the moment it flew clear of  the mongoose, just 2.13 seconds had passed.  It banked left showing off its underwings to good effect, a few low bushes between us obscured part of the tail. By then it was perhaps 5 to 6 metres past the mongoose.

The goshawk settled back on the ground and the mongoose simply carried onwith whatever it had been doing before – entirely unbothered.

From the first frame of the goshawk perched in the tree to the moment it settled back on the ground was around 6.5 minutes  – very little time to wait and watch for something to happen.  What began as a fairly mundane sighting turned into something quite dramatic – the main action lasting a few seconds.  A good reminder, once again, to be patient!

Info for the photographers

The above images are just a few from the full sequence. 410 images were actually captured over the whole event.

Camera:  Canon EOS R1

Lens:  Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM with a Canon RF extender 1.4x. –  effective focal length 560mm

Support: Handheld

Exposure settings:   ISO 1250. 1/4000 sec @ f/8  – set manually.  All images were the same exposure.

Key camera settings:  The R1 is set up using custom functions C1, C2 and C3, each one with settings for a type of photography. I use C3 for action photography.  This includes three back button focus.  I used the AF-ON button for focusing in this instance.  It is set to shoot at 30 frames per second (fps) with a half-press and 40fps with a full-press. In this case it was full press. The timing of this sequence proved that the camera was shooting at its maximum of 40 frames per second as each frame interval was 25 milliseconds.

The AF-ON button settings:

AF-ON Mode:  AF-ON2

AF-ON button:  Metering and AF start

AF start position:  selected point

AF Operation:  Servo

AF Area:    Full area

Whole Area tracking:  ON

Eye Detection; ON

Servo AF characteristics:   Auto

Case auto characterictics:  +1

Pre-capture: enabled

These settings worked well as almost every image captured was in perfect focus, especially at the crucial moments