Jubilation

This coyote couldn't put any weight on his left front leg at all. I don't know what was wrong with it, but it was something serious. It didn't seem to impede his ability to catch small rodents though. I watched him for 20 minutes and in that time he snagged two. Both times he tossed his catch in the air several times before eating it. It looked for all the world like he was celebrating a successful hunt.

Thanks for looking. Comments welcome

Your timing was good to capture this composition, well done.

Perfect timing on the shot mixed with a whole lot of luck to catch the mouse in mid-air. Very good. Thanks for sharing this.

How'd you get so close to a coyote? Great image!

George, Al, and Kim

 

Thank you very much for the comments. As to how I got so close, I was driving home after photographing wild turkeys when I saw this guy in a field just off the road. Its been my experience that wild animals are less inclined to head for the hills if a person stays inside a vehicle than if they get out. It doesn't always work but its worth a try. In this case it payed off. I just sat and watched from inside the cab of my pickup and shot this out the window. The truth is besides not wanting to alarm him, I was already cold and wet and I didn't feel like tramping through any more snow. :)

 

P.S. I forgot to mention that I was using a 300mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter on a 1.6 crop factor body. With that setup, the equivalent field of view is the same as a 670mm lens on a full frame body. In plain english that translates to a lot of telephoto.

Don't play with your food!! The stop action is fantastic-so much portrayed here. Really stunning nature shot.

Thank you Leann. Don't play with your food indeed. :)

 

 

Great composition and interesting action. Love it.

Thank you Jarek.

...thanks for Your passion...Rycho.

Thank you very much Ryszard. :)

Originally I thought it was just the angle he was holding his foot at that made it look so odd. Not so. I don't know how I missed seeing it. (I really do need a new pair of glasses.) Anyway I took a fresh look at several different photos I took of this guy. Whats wrong with his foot is that its missing. I'm thinking he had an unfortunate encounter with a trap. I would like to use the same trap on certain body parts of the person who set it. I absolutely despise those things.

I'm surprised he's still alive then - having part of the leg is much worse than having none of it, because as long as they have part, they keep trying to use it, which continually injures the stump - which in the wild, I would imagine would lead to infection and eventual death. I'm with you in administering a little frontier justice to the person who set it :/

 

 

Lovely shot though - with that much zoom, you could have caught this guy tossing a mouse on the moon :)

Thank you Kathy. From what I can tell by zooming in on his leg, its been awhile since he lost the foot. I am absolutely amazed that this animal survived something like that. I can't imagine how it managed it. He wasn't overly fat, but he didn't appear to be starving either. He certainly has the art of catching mice down pat.

Larry,what a sad situation for that coyote, but on the other hand he really looks a successful "sports" hunter....it is a nice catch and a nice composition.It must have been a gripping experience watching him.

Thank you Pnina. If you are a nature lover this was a fascinating scene to behold. I am and it was. :)

I wish I could see it, Larry, it sounds gripping indeed