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Red eye crane (the later days)

Posted by Aaron Schmidt (Auckland, New Zealand) on 31 January 2007 in Animal & Insect.

Bless my 20D and its attention to detail. If I had to give up my camera to save this bird's life it would be a tough decision for me.

Now you're probably thinking "Come on Aaron, you can always buy a new camera! That's just cruel..." But if the death was the result of a vicious fight with an aggressive male crane seeking sexual dominance in the flock, then I'm sure you wouldn't cast me as being morally unjust and you'd probably forgive me for wanting to capture it all in vivid 8MP detail with my beautiful Canon super snapping, animal cracking, digital go-boter.

Would you frown upon my behaviour if I dived into the fray with my wide-angle lens, capturing each violent blow, all the while hoping the blood didn't splatter too much on my lens? Would you cast your judgments upon me for my lack of respect for the glorious crane species or would you consider me noble for wanting to frame the last moments of this dear old crane's life? A life that was lived to the full and brought to swift end by a younger, more powerful, red-eyed rival.
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Canon EOS 20D
1/250 second
F/5.0
ISO 400
200 mm