Bateleur eagle up close

When you’re on safari in Africa, every day is different, and often every day is a surprise. You can return to Africa ten times and each trip will net completely different images. That’s part of the excitement of any safari. This bateleur eagle was one of those surprises. I had never seen one up close before this, and I was intrigued by the fact it had matching color in its face and feet. It perched on the top of a dead tree about 30 feet from my vehicle, unphased by the proximity to my tour group. The original sky was bland and boring, so I added the storm clouds. I could have rendered the background out of focus, typical of what a long lens would produce; instead I preferred what my eyes would see, i.e. complete depth of field. I took the shot with a Canon 500mm f/4 telephoto, and the settings were 1/800, f/7.1, and 200 ISO. I am hoping on my next photo tour to Africa in March, 2026 that I could get one of these eagles in flight.