Gambel's quail

JohnDC

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's quail are found in the Southwestern U.S. The males are more showy than the females and perform territorial displays, usually from the tops of rocks. All of these shots are hand-held in natural light with a 300 mm Minolta APO telephoto (450 mm equivalent) on a Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D.

Male foraging near a chuparrosa plant (the reddish-orange flowers).


Female foraging with male in background.


Male displaying from top of rock. Out of focus background is a canyon wall.


Another male displaying, viewed through a gap in the chuparrosa plants. This is a very cropped shot, but I liked the composition and the bird's expression.

Skippy

JohnDC wrote:

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's quail are found in the Southwestern U.S. The males are more showy than the females and perform territorial displays, usually from the tops of rocks. All of these shots are hand-held in natural light with a 300 mm Minolta APO telephoto (450 mm equivalent) on a Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D.

Male foraging near a chuparrosa plant (the reddish-orange flowers).
Female foraging with male in background.
Male displaying from top of rock. Out of focus background is a canyon wall.
Another male displaying, viewed through a gap in the chuparrosa plants. This is a very cropped shot, but I liked the composition and the bird's expression.

Hi John, what a beautiful series of Gambels Quail's, I've never seen them before they are quite a pretty bird, number #3 is my favourite in this series.
Thank you for your images and the informative post
........ Skippy (Australia)

dbaker1221

those are great shot!

Awais Yaqub

Wonderful shots !!

Ric Grupe

The plumes reminded me of Vegas showgirls costumes...

Very nice set.

The last one does it for me since it gives a sense of environment.

jwear

nice work --they are all over but not easy to get shots of --good going

raptorcaptor

Good shots John! It's nice to see photos of unusual birds!

Harryb

Good shots of a bird I don't get to see. That 3rd shot is a beauty.

Dick on Aruba

Beautiful series John, well done.

Thanks for sharing.

Dick.

kdog

John,

We've got tons of these guys in the brush out here in Kingman, and I was wondering what they were. So your ID is very timely. And they're skittish little buggers and very hard to shoot. Very impressive set you posted here.

Regards,
-joel

davidryan

JohnDC wrote:

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's quail are found in the Southwestern U.S. The males are more showy than the females and perform territorial displays, usually from the tops of rocks. All of these shots are hand-held in natural light with a 300 mm Minolta APO telephoto (450 mm equivalent) on a Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D.

Male foraging near a chuparrosa plant (the reddish-orange flowers).

Another male displaying, viewed through a gap in the chuparrosa plants. This is a very cropped shot, but I liked the composition and the bird's expression.

I love quail....I raised them when I was a kid on the family farm. They're so smart and inquizitive creatures-- very nice shots.