Water Trough

I was looking through some older pics and found some I had forgotten about. These were taken at a water trough in late January a couple of years. The amount of wildlife that a water source can draw is amazing. There are several different species of birds in these pics and I did not even get photos of some that were there. I was trying to get pics of birds in flight but to many moving in and out to focus on one specific bird.

Cool. You near Uvalde?

I like the 4th picture of the dove putting on the brakes

No it is not near Uvalde.

I actually like the first one with the Blue Quail on the far right stopped in mid-air jump. The series with the Blue Quail about to take flight off the back of the trough is nice also...just out of focus.

Great pics. Now lets see that big BUCK.

Here is one old buck that was really worn down that late in the season that same afternoon.

Great pictures Ranchman. I am finally seeing a few Bob White around here.

Excellent pictures.
I was looking at a Texas bird photography book a while back. It seemed as though catching the picture of a bird with wings out putting on the breaks was a popular picture that won several of the competitions. You have several in of those above.

Thanks. There is an art to it and I ain't got it...lol. I can get some pics like that but I do not try to since it is difficult for me. Those that are great at are usually good at wing shooting or skeet or trap. I have a friend who is very good, if not great at it. She can shoot a shotgun very well and takes excellent pics of birds in flight. She told me that a lot of people use birding apps to call the birds to them which would make it much easier.

That old buck does really look run down. Photo's are great as usual.

Great shots. Wish we would get the GreenJays up here. Closest I ever see them is around Choke Canyon.

Love the pics..

Awesome pics. Didn't know the Blues were in your part of the state.

I really enjoyed these pics. thanks.

Amazing photos as always!
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks everyone.

Cardinals, Green Jay's, Scaled Quail and Dove oh my! Surprised the Green Jay let any of the others get a drink. Really cool territorial birds. Used to see them try and runoff javelinas from the corned senderos in Webb/Zapata county.

Awesome as always.....

Beautiful pics. Love the variety!

I love water trough pics! I always think of that song "Cool Water", lol. And your pics are as awesome as always! Does your camera have a burst mode on it? I wonder if that would help capture them better, in flight? I have no idea, I'm certainly no photographer.

Mine is a 10 yr old camera that has a burst mode/continous shooting of 5-6 frames per second and IIRC 23 before it has to catch up with processing those frames. I think the newer model of mine can shoot 8 frames and up to 94. It was in the continous shooting on those pics and I was about 80-90 yards from the trough. So any bird moving was in focus for a frame or two then out of focus just as fast. I had my camera set on a 400 ISO and 1/640 for shooting those pics thru a 500mm lens set at F 5.6. If I had gone up on ISO and faster exposure time they would have been a bit more grainy in that lower light I would think. I am still learning how to use my cameras and self taught. So what I do is probably not correct. I use a lot of manual setting since I am trying to capture the clearest and crispest deer photos, not so much on the birds.
Thanks everyone.

Wife has got me involved with her birding here and at the farm......Pretty neat.

Well you definitely have the deer picture taking down, lol. That one with the BIG buck by the water, and I think it was foggy....that has to be my all time favorite deer pic EVER! And all your pics are really good for a 10 year old camera. Keep up the good work!

They don't have blues near Uvalde.

Great job on pictures. An Oasis and Haven for wildlife.

Thanks everyone