Lesser Nighthawk in flight

[Dan Brown]

Photographed last week at the Salton Sea, Riverside co, California. Cropped (35%) and preprocessed in ACR and then in CS3. Sharpening and NR with Noiseware Pro. C&C welcome.


Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D
Focal length: 185mm
Focal length: 277mm (in 35mm film)
AF mode: AF-C

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool Dan, I have never seen one of these guys, good find!

[Tony Whitehead]

Looks like a member of the nightjar family. Great to see one in such nice light - I've only seen similar things fluttering around in the dark and impossible to photograph as a result.

[Mike Milicia]

Very cool bird and wonderful underside view!
Given the pose, I think a vertical crop would work well here.

[Doug Brown]

Congrats on getting one in the sunlight Dan! What's your count up to now?

[Dan Brown]

Thanks all for the comments. Doug, I am at 271 species photographed in CA for the year! I added about 50 down in SoCal last week!