Recently a birding-friend asked me an interesting question regarding bird-photography ethics, he found a picture in the National Geographic magazine that showed an adult bird feeding a fledgling away from the nest on a rather artificial-looking perch and wondered if the young bird had been taken from the nest by a photographer to create a ‘better-looking’ photograph.
H e sent me a link to the photo but I’m not going to post it publicly, as it could be legitimate and he doesn’t want to unfairly accuse someone but he would like to approach Nat Geo regarding the matter.
This is part of what he wrote:
***”I don’t want unfairly publicly accuse someone. I may write directly to National Geographic but I want to canvas the views of a few experts first. Would you also be able to discreetly ask acquaintances you think may be able to give an informed opinion or help provide a suitable response to NatGeo? There are many other photos on the internet showing chicks which I suspect were removed from their nests in the quest for a clearer shot. I’ve heard of a number of cases of nest abandonment due to excessive and very close approaches by photographers. Saw more than 10 photographers in Kaeng Krachan (Thailand) crowding rather too closely around an Orange-bellied Trogon on a nest. Although I don’t know what the outcome was in that one.* ”
Would love to hear your opinion on the subject either on this forum or indirectly to me and I will pass on any messages. I will also cross-post this on the Orientalbirding mailing-list.
Tom
I am wondering if it is a slow time of year and it is time to have a bash at the bird photographer once again! Honestly you are talking about things of the past. I do not know of any and I repeat any current bird photographer that I know of in Australia who does the sort of thing that people here are talking about. In the past these techniques of photographing birds at the nest and pruning shrubs was most certainly done, as in the old days it was the only way to photograph some of the more secretive species and this cannot be denied. But it is a technique of the past not the present as we as a responsible group, I am including the Australian Birdlife Photography group which as some of you will know has a strict code of ethics for photographing birds. The event of modern digital cameras and the length of the lenses used takes away any need for being close to a nest and almost most photographs these days are taken nowhere near nests as well. So please put away your guns and we promise not to come out with chainsaws!
Kindest Regards Geoff Jones Website http://www.barraimaging.com.au Slideshows http://barraimaging.smugmug.com/
I’m guessing that it was mostly the capabilities of their cameras that drove people to use these techniques, and that the cameras lots of us now own have far longer lenses, sensor speeds they could only dream of with film, and cost a fraction of what they paid for theirs.
I’m also guessing that all the more obvious tricks have been abandoned, for fear of ridicule.
I photograph road kill too, spreading the wings and tail to see the feathers properly. It would be pretty hard to capture that level of plumage detail in a photo of a free flying bird. All for my own education – I’ll never be a reasonably well known naturalist.
Peter Shute
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I have a ‘treasure’ of a book by a reasonably well known naturalist from some decades back. It is a great example of what not to do with bird photography. A number of the birds are obviously dead, either recently shot (by the author?) or found dead or are mounted specimens. Of particular interest to me is the Black-necked Stork photo which shows a bird with a broken neck leaning up against a sapling eucalypt. The Ground Parrot appears to have a glass eye and a Crimson Rosella shown climbing up the trunk of a tree using its bill and claws has a broken tail. One photo of the author shows him crouched at a Brush Turkey mound, with rifle across his lap! Other photos are of young birds that couldn’t get away.
With modern cameras it is unlikely that photographers/naturalist will need to resort to this sort of behaviour but it was an interesting part of our history.
I should also admit that I, often, take photos of road killed animals for research purposes but never try to pass them off as living individuals.
Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960 http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
Yes, I used to have this book! It seems to have gone from my bookshelves. I must have sold it to you John.
Tony.
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Is it possible that in some of these cases the photographers are using stuffed dead animals?
Jeremy
On 5 June 2013 20:09, wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com < wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com> wrote:
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Spot on Andrew!!! I will save others the bother of getting their books out…. A friend and I did this about 20 years ago with the book “Every Australian Bird Illustrated”.
Check out these photos from acclaimed photographers and naturalists….. Black-shouldered Kite Grey Goshawk Mountain Duck White-eyed Duck, for starters.
These birds are either tied to the perch, have parts of their wings spread unnaturally (?) and out of picture or look very distressed….
Thank goodness such things are not condoned these days.
Yours in all things “green”
John Harris Croydon, Vic Owner – Wildlife Experiences Ecologist/Zoologist Nature Photographer Wildlife Guide wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com 0409090955
President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (www.fncv.org.au)
Hi Tom & Denise
Here’s a good game for a rainy day. Get out all your bird books and closely examine the photos of nesting birds. You will see that some of the nests are exposed and in light (rather than being hidden away from the view of predators). In some of the photos, you will see that the adult birds appear stressed and annoyed. You might like to ask why this is so. Could it be that a photographer has pruned back the foliage to get a better shot?
I have seen some heartbreaking examples of this in books. I suspect that nesting success was compromised.
Denise is spot on – do not show nesting birds to irresponsible photographers!
cheers Andrew
Andrew Thelander Mob: 0400 034 809
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Tom One of the most often mentioned dislikes in my research on US birders was photographers who did this sort of thing.
As a guide I occasionally have had to stop this sort of behaviour. My approach is not to show clients nesting birds.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71, NT 0841 043 8650 835
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