Swainson's hawk with bats

This photograph shows a Swainson's hawk preying on bats after sunset. Every evening, millions of bats come out of this cave in pursuit of insects at a lake nearby, the flock of flying bats paints a dark trail in the sky stretching for miles as far as the eye can see. Swaison's hawks approach from above diving at bats. The bats can only detect what's in front of them by echo (they can't quite see) so the hawks can easily snatch them from behind. Each hawk consumes tens of bats in flight until it is full. I photographed these bats with Doug Brown and a few other friends back in the summer in NM. It was extremely challenging as the bats came out minutes before sunset and with thick clouds in the sky we started shooting at ISO 5000 and after a few minutes we were at ISO 50,000!, Almost like shooting flight shots at night. I was surprised my camera was even locking focus in such low light. Predictably, keepers were very few and had some flaws. Nevertheless, this was an impressive sight and an experience like nothing else. 

I hope you enjoy this frame despite the flaws, and happy Halloween!

the hawk is holding a bat in his talons. 

1D-X 600 II. ISO 6400. Ff/4 at 1/1250sec. hand held. Processed with DPP 4.3

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