A rare stopped-action image of a Wild Turkey in flight was taken by amateur photographer David Bates in central New Mexico. Documented by youth photographer Zackary Gray, a photo of a family of Northern Bobwhites gathered to drink at a south Texas pond preserves a tranquil moment in nature. Territorial Limpkins engage in a less than friendly interaction at a foraging site in central Florida in this impressive action photo taken by amateur photographer Peter Brannon.

Bird photography continues to grow in popularity as birding grows – by the millions. A good means of gaining experience in bird photography is to review other photographer’s images, especially such an eclectic collection of photos as Audubon’s Top 100 Audubon Photo Contest images. It’s fun to review the variety of bird photos submitted to different categories to see some of the impressive images submitted by youth photographs, as well as amateurs that range across decades of age and experience, with some photos by professionals mixed in too.

Not all these bird photos are exceptional, but they are certainly fun to review, and you can even do a little mental editing, imagining how a given photo could be improved if you were taking it, or editing it. This interesting collection of 100 bird photos provides a good opportunity to view and learn from a variety of bird photos with a variety of qualities that were taken by a cross-section of photographers. You can also review what kinds of equipment the photographers used. Enjoy the photos at https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2019/the-2019-audubon-photography-awards-top-100

And if you’re interested in re-visiting the winning contest photos, that’s well-worth a revisit to https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2019/the-2019-audubon-photography-awards-winners