My "Your Flight is Ready for Departure" entry in the Elements of Design category contest for December won one of the 2nd place recognitions.

Your flight is ready for departure

I took this photo at the Village Creek Drying Beds in Arlington, TX. I had driven out to the drying beds late in the afternoon not expecting to see much activity for two reasons. First, it had been so dry and there wasn't much water where the migratory or local birds would be feeding and secondly, the time of day would mean very little or no activity since most of that occurs early in the morning or later in the day.

It was as I expected when I got there. No sightings, no activity. I just drove around for a bit to see if I might stumble on anything. Toward the back of the Drying Beds, as I was slowly and quietly driving down a dirt track at about 5 mph, I suddenly surprised a very large group of finches and Red Wing Blackbirds that were feeding about 75-100 yards to my left. They all swooshed up at once, hundreds of them. I stopped and waited. Eventually they all settled back down again in the same area. I had my long telephoto lens on and hoping to get the same result as before, I set a fast shutter speed and low aperture and prepared for the event. I started rolling slowly again and sure enough the sound and nearness of the van set them off again. In a split second hundreds of them took to the air and I was able to get off several shots through the open window in the van.

The photo that I submitted is actually a small, approximately 1/8th section of the total exposure. They were in such a large area that I wanted to crop in on a group of them that were close together to achieve the effect I wanted. So you can imagine how many total birds there were! I was pleased that I was able to capture this event and create a photo that I would submit in the Elements of Design category. It turned out to be a profitable trip to the Drying Beds because the exposures of this event were the only shots I came back with.