Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Lesser Nighthawk (Chordeiles acutipennis)
Place: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Date: June 2003
Equipment: Nikon N90S, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 & TC20E (= 600/5.6), tripod
Film: Fuji Sensia 100
Exposure: Aperture priority matrix metered, fill flash @ -1.7
Scan: Minolta Dimage, 70% of frame

Commentary: I've been trying to find a roosting nightjar ever since I started birding 30 years ago, and I finally found one. While showing this convenient location to a birder visiting from Massachusetts late in the day, I was fascinated by the number of nighthawks flying about. I returned the next morning and started looking in a likely place for them to roost and found this bird within minutes. It was rather skittish, and flushed when I got past this spot 40 feet distant. But I got two frames before moving closer.

Since the bird was in the shadows of this modest mesquite tree and the bright grass could be seen in the background, I added fill flash @ -1.7. Note the red eye that gave me from so far away.