I have the nikon d40 6.1mp......?

How do I set my camera to take pictures of lightning? I'm very new to the whole slr camera so please speak english!! or else I wont understand thanks.

Thank you,but I have a few questions where on my camers is the "b" buld setting? does this mean i'm using my flash? and what would be the highest resolution? Sorry I'm really new to this,thank you so much for any help!!

You will need a tripod or something to set your camera on so you can take long exposures. Set your camera for its highest resolution and lowest ISO.

Then aim the camera where the storm is the most active. Using the "B" (bulb) setting on your camera, open the shutter and hold it down until you see a few lightning strikes. You may have to do this many times because lightning is difficult to catch, mainly because you rarely know where it will be striking.

Since this first try will be an experiment, check your exposures using the LCD on the back of your camera.

Set your camera mode dial to M (manual). Rotate the back dial until the shutterspeed indicator in the lcd window displays a "B" for bulb.

Hi, in response to your follow-up questions:
the bulb setting is a throw back to film SLR's. The D40 doesn't have this (unless you buy a remote for it). It's used to keep the shutter open for as long as you keep the shutter button pressed in.
What you can try instead, is see if the camera will expose the shot properly if you just leave it in automatic mode. With luck, the shutter will stay open for several seconds... and with even more luck you'll catch a flash of lightning in that time period. Just keep taking pictures until you do.
If the exposure doesn't turn out right in automatic, experiment with manual mode - set the longest possible shutter time and adjust the aperture setting to get the exposure right. (You don't want the whole picture to turn out pitch black or bright white.)
Other camera settings:
No flash.
ISO 100.
Highest image quality. (either RAW, or jpg Large, Fine)

Best wishes!
p.s. unless you get a fantastic response after this, give Ace the 10 points for best answer. He's spot on. As usual.
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added:

I stand corrected by George. The D40 *can* be used in bulb mode. Ace was right - I should've known :-)

For bird photography you need a telephoto lens. The cheapest decent lens that comes to mind is the Nikon 70-300mm. Although you'd really want something more like 500mm or 600mm, but those are outrageously expensive. (There are some cheap alternatives, but those all provide crappy image quality).

As for the difference between a zoom and a telephoto:
A telephoto lens brings far away objects closer. The opposite of a telephoto lens is a wide angle lens.
A telephoto lens *can* be a zoom lens, or it *can* be a fixed focal length lens. That 70-300mm lens is a zoom lens: it can zoom from 70mm to 300mm. If it only said 300mm, it would still be a telephoto lens, just not a zoom lens.

If you have more questions, feel free to post a new one. We're here to help, but we don't make a habit out of checking back on old questions.