Sykes Nightjar

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

Dear All,
Sykes Nightjar from the LRK, December 2011. All my previous nightjar sightings have been in the day and I have been intrigued about the eyes of a Nightjar. This sighting, thanx to the sharp eyes of Dhanraj malik, makes the bulbous "nightvision" eyes of the Nightjar evident.

EOS 50D + 300f4 @ 1/50, f4, ISO 800.

Look froward to comments.

Cheers
Dipankar

[Mrudul Godbole]

Oh lovely eye contact. Agree I too have sighted it in the day, mostly sleeping. Nice to see it with eyes open. Seems you used the flash, what time in the night was it photographed. Thanks for sharing.

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

Dear Mrudul,
No flash used, Dhanraj was on the vehicle holding a torchlight (see reflection on the eye) while I lay flat on the Rann to get a eye level perspective of the Bird.

BTW, when the light fell on the nightjar, it would close its eye. So I asked for the light to be shone a little away, immediately it opened its eye to the full..!!

Shot at 19:05 PM, while returning from the Rann.

Cheers
Dipankar

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice. I like the low angle. Lovely eye contact too. I suppose you could have used a higher aperture for more DoF and done with a low shutter speed, since shake would not have been a problem considering your shooting position.
Strangely enough, I have never sighted nightjars during the day :p
TFS

[Bhargava Srivari]

Nice low angle. The dark BG adds a feeling of mystery to the image :D Wish you had got the pinkish iris (?) of the eye.

tfs

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Lovely image Dipankar, the eye contact is simply outstanding. Great work!
tfs

[Supreet Sahoo]

Absolutely love the eye contact. I know what would have gone in to make this image because I have had a very similar experience with a nightjar at lrk last year. If a flash was used then the pupil looks bright yellow/pink , using a torch or car headlight is way more ethical than a camera flash like you have in this image.

Tfs
Supreet

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I agree with the previous comments. If you don't point the light directly at the nightjar, then it will be able to open its eyes. You did the right thing. Of course that leads to less light on the bird, however, given that the bird remains stationary, one can pull it off using a lower shutter speed.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi