Wildlife photographer Sha Lu had a disappointing morning. He'd driven out to his local park in Mountain View, California, on June 15 2025, hoping to catch a white-tailed kite performing its remarkable mid-air food exchange; a male passing prey to a female or juvenile while both are in flight. He'd been shooting these birds for years. He knew what a great frame looked like.
What he got instead was a juvenile kite with its back to him, blocking the action. Dejected, he packed up. It was only later, during post-processing, that he started flicking through the "less interesting" frames from his Sony A1, and noticed something extraordinary staring back at him.
