Common Nighthawk Flight

[Jim Neiger]

Southern Idaho - 1D4, 500mm, 1/3200, F4, hand held, manual exposure

[Marina Scarr]

Nice to see you posting, Jim. Now this is a tough bird to get in flight!!! The wings up pose is terrific and the bird really fits right in with the BG environment.

[Jack Breakfast]

Astounding! I've only ever seen these in the gloaming hours, darting hither and thither well above my head! You sure got those wingbars, man o man. Nice background, too. If I were you I'd be patting myself on the back right about now...

[Jim Neiger]

Thanks Jack! I was pretty happy when I made this image. Common Nighthawk in flight is a fairly easy image to get, but what makes this shot very difficult to get is the varied background. I have hundreds of Nighthawk flight photos, but only a handfull of them have varied, non-sky bgs.

[Karl Egressy]

I haven't seen your great flight shot for ages, Jim. Great shot as always.

[laurie golden]

Love your nighthawk. I have never gotten one in flight that was bigger than a speck in the sky. I don't think they are easy to get but then I cannot hand hold a 500mm lens. Great background too.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Really cool bird and superb light. Not easy to get these guys in flight.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the wings up pose and the nice BKGR. It looks as if there is a tiny bit of motion blur on the face; perhaps a bit of selective sharpening there would help.

Have you posted any raptors from the trip?

[Michael Libbe]

Beautiful flight shot. For me, they are difficult to get in flight...they move much faster than I do! The varied background is a nice change from the usual blue sky.

[Roman Kurywczak]

great wing position Jim! The varied BG is cool but I think I would prefer the clean sky......so will have to drop by your sit eand check them out!

[Jim Neiger]

Artie,

I think it looks that way because the nighthawks faces are wierd and appear that way in most of the images I have of them, even perched birds. I had 1/3200 ss and was panning with the bird, so I think motion blur is unlikely. I posted a Praire Falcon a while back.

[Jim Neiger]

Thanks Roman. I don't think I have very many on my site. If you look thru my posts here you will find a few on sky bgs. Here is a link to one of them:http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/84423-Common-Nighthawk

[Jim Neiger]

Beautiful flight shot. For me, they are difficult to get in flight...they move much faster than I do! The varied background is a nice change from the usual blue sky.

If you shoot handheld you should be able to keep up with them as long as you use a long FL and the bird isn't too close. The closer you are to the bird, the faster thier speed is relative to you, so with a shorter FL you need to move much faster. This doesn't apply if the birds are coing right at you, but does if they are moving parallel to your motion.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Terrific flight shot Jim. It looks very hard species to shot in flight as I compare it with our Nightjars. TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool image Jim! haven't seen many flight shot of these in day light

[Michael Libbe]

If you shoot handheld you should be able to keep up with them as long as you use a long FL and the bird isn't too close.

Thanks, Jim. I have a 500mm, but I need to improve my HH skills. I've only had it for about 6 months and I don't have the hang of HH flight shots yet.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, Jim. I have a 500mm, but I need to improve my HH skills. I've only had it for about 6 months and I don't have the hang of HH flight shots yet.

Hi Michael, Jim leads several hand holding workshops each year; they are quite good. I have been trying to get him to finish the Flight Photography Guide he has been working on for about four years not but I am not having much luck :S3:.

[Jim Neiger]

Artie,

I am sitting here working on it as we speak. I have been working on it during this offseason and have completed the first draft of about 80% of the book.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I am sitting here working on it as we speak. I have been working on it during this offseason and have completed the first draft of about 80% of the book.

Good news. The boys and girls are chomping at the bit.

[Melissa Groo]

What a stunning image of this Nighthawk. Don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.
Good to hear you're working on the book. I for one would be very interested in that Flight Photography Guide!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Like Jack, I've only seen them at dusk...must be the "Sunshine State"!! Do these guys respond to call, or do you toss them mosquitos?:bg3: Anyhow, awesome image here and I really dig the BG.

[Jim Neiger]

Like Jack, I've only seen them at dusk...must be the "Sunshine State"!! Do these guys respond to call, or do you toss them mosquitos?:bg3: Anyhow, awesome image here and I really dig the BG.

They are often hunting at dusk or after dark, but they also hunt during the day. The thing that drives it are the insects they eat. I have photographed them in strong daylight in three different states, not just Florida. The image above was made in Idaho. They also respond quite well to the Common Nighthawk call.