wildlife ethics

Photograph but don’t touch – Wildlife Ethics

By Mia McPherson, on March 20th, 2013%

Long-billed Curlew chick – Look & photograph but don’t touch

Yesterday I became aware of two photographers in Florida who went beyond what is considered “ethical” to get photos of a Sandhill Crane chick and it ticked me off. Another photographer was able to take images of the photographers and it ended up in the news.

One of the ~~photographers~~, or rather one of the guys with a camera, was petting the Sandhill Crane chick and per Cathy Terry, the photographer who took images of them:

“When I zoomed in on the photo, I realized he had his hand crooked under the neck and his finger like that,” she said, demonstrating. “Holding it up so the other guy could get a close up of the chick’s face.”

You can see the full article here: Over-friendly photographers could face charges

The article originally said that these cranes are endangered and that wasn’t correct but they are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act - Grus canadensis, Sandhill Crane.

These guys with cameras should not have approached the crane chick so close and they certainly should not have been touching it. The fact that they made the news can damage the reputation of other bird and wildlife photographers which possibly could put new and harsher restrictions on the rest of us. It was a dumb thing to do, period.

Two places to read about good field ethics: Principles of Birding Ethics published by the American Birding Association and NANPA’s Ethical Practices (pdf)

Red Fox Kit portrait – Look & photograph but don’t touch

Young animals can look adorable but they shouldn’t be touched either. I recall the day I photographed several Red Fox kits, they were curious and came right up to the pick up and I believe if I had been outside of it they would have come right up to me. That could have caused them problems by getting them used to people.

“Any contact with an animal, especially when they’re young, can make them less afraid of humans and more suspect to getting hurt,” stated Officer Baryl Martin of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.”

Both of the images here were taken with a long lens to reduce stress on the young animals.

I do hope that non-photographers and the general public know that behavior like this is an exception and that ethical photographers would not have gone up and petted the Sandhill Cranes.

Mia

More on Escaped Falconry Birds

By Mia McPherson, on December 23rd, 2012%

I mentioned in a post about a hatch year Red-tailed Hawk that I published on December 12th that I would do a post later on an escaped female American Kestrel falconry bird. Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post up but here it is with a little history of my own experiences with escaped falconry birds.

Escaped male American Kestrel with jesses

A few days later in the same area Ron had pulled off to the side of the road to answer a phone call when I saw an American kestrel male perched on top of a power pole right in front of us that had some thing hanging down from its legs. I realized that they were jesses, the type that falconers use and that the bird I saw previously didn’t have grass dangling from its talons, it had jesses and that the bird in front of me was one and the same.

We notified the Department of Wildlife Resources via telephone about the escaped kestrel and after a period of several weeks the owner was able to recapture the bird. We saw the bird so often that I named it “Jack” simply because it was easier to say than the “escaped male kestrel”. Not too long after “Jack” was captured he escaped again and this time the owner did not attempt recapture. For awhile I saw Jack with both jesses then I started to see him with only one and eventually I didn’t see a male Kestrel with jesses in that area any more. It is my hope that “Jack” got rid of that final jess and is alive and well.

Female Peregrine Falcon with anklets

The good news on this female Peregrine Falcon is that she was recaptured recently and taken to a rehab facility and with a clean bill of health she should be released to the wild without the anklets. I was out of the loop of communications regarding attempts to recapture her but was relieved to hear that she is well.

Escaped female American Kestrel with jesses

But I believe, as does Ron and some local falconers that the female Kestrel and Peregrine were probably captured by falconer wannabes. In other words these birds were most likely caught by unlicensed persons and used as falconry birds. That type of activity is illegal and it could give the licensed falconers in this area a bad reputation. True falconers are licensed, care deeply for their birds and are held to high standards by the North American Falconers Association.

Efforts are being made to recapture the female American Kestrel but she has been wary. Only licensed trappers are permitted to recapture escaped falconry birds and there are still issues of getting permission for landowners or proper authorities, in this case a Utah State park.

I mentioned earlier that we contacted Utah DWR to report the escaped birds because we were not able, as non-members of NAFA, to report them on the NAFA web site. That has been changed so that non-members can report escaped falconry birds on the NAFA web site. I believe that will help to notify falconers in the area rapidly so they can recapture lost birds. With as many bird photographers, birders and wildlife watchers that are out in the field it is a positive step of NAFA to allow non-members to report it if they find lost birds. Reports can be filed here.

We spend a lot of time in the field photographing birds which might be why we have found three escaped falconry birds in three year’s time.

Those dangling jesses and pieces of hardware have the potential to get caught on items which would immobilize the bird and cause its death so it is critical to recapture birds with hardware on them before something terrible happens to them.

Ron and I met with Becka Butcher, a licensed falconer and trapper on Antelope Island on December 11th to show her where we were seeing the escaped female kestrel and efforts are ongoing to recapture her.

I hope the female kestrel is recaptured soon, her jesses aren’t as long as Jack’s were (which I am told were WAY too long) but they could still pose a danger for this beautiful female American Kestrel.

Throughout these three experiences in finding escaped falconry birds what I have learned is that falconry is for experts not for people who just think it is cool to have a pet raptor. People who have not been trained or do not have a license for falconry should just observe them in the wild, the birds will be far better off for it.

Hopefully other birders, bird photographers and wildlife watchers will spread the word that we can go to the NAFA site and report lost birds. It could save their lives.

Mia

Report a lost/found falconry birds here.

Burrowing Owls – Loved to Death?

By Mia McPherson, on March 14th, 2011%

Juvenile Burrowing Owl in flight

Juvenile Burrowing Owl in flight
Davis County, Utah
Nikon D200, f7.1, 1/1500, ISO 400, Nikkor200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited and not harassed

I saw something yesterday that made me sick and it also made me angry.

I get it that Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) are beautiful, funny, comical, hilarious, adorable, cute, infinitely interesting to watch, universally appealing and great fun to photograph. I love to see them, observe them and photograph them too. I understand the desire to add Burrowing Owls to a photographers portfolio. Or any owl.

There is a location on Antelope Island State Park where Burrowing Owls have nested for years. The owls can easily be photographed by using a vehicle as a mobile blind using a DSLR with a longer lens or a point & shoot camera with some optical zoom by anyone. By not getting out of the vehicle you are less likely to stress or harass the owls. By staying in the vehicle the owls go about their normal behavior. The burrow isn’t that far from the road.

At this time of the year some of the migrant Burrowing Owls start to return to the island and those that remained there through the winter begin to look for mates and places to nest. Burrowing Owls often return to the same nesting site for years which is probably good for them because they only need to clean the burrow up and don’t have to expend as much energy in creating a new one.

A pair of juvenile Burrowing Owls

A pair of juvenile Burrowing Owls
Davis County, Utah
Nikon D200, f8, 1/250, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited and not harassed

Yesterday morning I was out on Antelope Island to photograph birds, the day started without any clouds and I knew the light might be beautiful. I’ve been seeing one adult owl in the location of this burrow but haven’t yet seen a pair and I have been going past it to see if the other adult shows up to mate and nest when we go to the island.

When I came around the hill where the burrow is visible I saw three vehicles parked on both sides of the road but that wasn’t the shocker. There were three photographers, all with long lenses, out of their vehicles plus another person who didn’t have a camera in hand. What made me sick was that there were three of those people tromping around the owl’s burrow. I mean RIGHT up on it. They had no need to be that close but they were.

I felt like my stomach had been punched. You know, I can understand wanting to have a close look at the burrow but not at this time of the year, not when there are chicks, not when fledglings are still present and certainly not before or as the adult owls are in the process of deciding whether to use the same burrow again.

Burrowing Owl small in the frame

Burrowing Owl small in the frame
Davis County, Utah
Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited and not harassed

I’ve decided from now on I won’t list locations of raptors; nesting or not, other than the county the images were taken in. If a photographer emails me whom I believe to have good field ethics I will tell them the location but I won’t give that information out to just anyone ever again.

I don’t bait birds; specifically birds of prey, and I also do not harass birds in the field to get the “shot”. It goes against my personal ethics but there are some photographers who will “do anything to get the shot” despite the stress they may cause the birds. Especially nesting birds or birds with young. How they can have so little regard for their living, breathing subjects is beyond me. If everyone got out of their vehicle at this burrow and if a great many photographers stomp around it the adult owls may decide to nest elsewhere thereby disrupting the normal behavior of the owls and depriving people with good field ethics the opportunity of observing, photographing and admiring the beauty of this burrow of owls.

There used to be burrowing owls close to the park headquarters and close to the road that are no longer there. The park staff when asked about why the owls were no longer there said they thought “the owls had been loved to death”.

Personally I will always put the welfare of birds or animals above the desire to get a photograph.

Once I was trying to get into a better position to photograph a Barred Owl in Florida, it was perched and did not appear distressed by the photographers in the area. There was one photographer there though that kept playing the sound of barred owls on a player of some sort, perhaps he was trying to get the owl to open its eyes but he played it so much that it caused the owl stress and it flew away into deeper unreachable habitat. That person caused the rest of us to lose the opportunity to photograph that owl and caused the owl to be distressed.

I hear of rare owl sightings being reported and then throngs of photographers (and to be fair; birders) showing up, some of them get to close and even chase after the owls disrupting the bird and its normal behavior just to get the “shot” or check it off their life list. And it isn’t just owls, I’ve seen images of wild Bald Eagle chicks where the photographer was close enough to use a wide angle lens.

Here are a few links to some examples of this type of behavior:

Birding British Columbia
Amherst Island Owls

Did the photographers yesterday consider what their behavior might do to the owls? Probably not. Did they think that walking right up to the burrow at this time of the year might cause the adults to nest elsewhere? Probably not. Did they know for certain that the owls hadn’t already laid eggs and that their presence might cause the adults to abandon the nest and eggs? Certainly not since the eggs would be back in the burrow and might not be visible. Perhaps they just didn’t care. I do know they left the area several times to return again (and again).

Later that day I spotted one adult owl on the ground well away from the burrow and nearly hidden by a sagebrush when it may have normally have been perched in the sagebrush over the burrow to warm up in the rising sun.

Didn’t happen and I don’t wonder why.

Mia

PS: As far as addressing good field ethics with those photographers in today society that could be risky and unsafe. Reporting the unneeded (and unnecessary) encroachment to the park staff? Their guidelines say on that end of the island people are free to walk about and they have every right to do so legally there might not be anything they can do about their poor field ethics. But that does not make it “right“.

Afterthoughts: I thought I should include links to the Principles of Birding Ethics published by the American Birding Association. Also NANPA’s Ethical Practices(pdf)

I also wonder how these photographers would feel if complete stranger began walking around their homes, in the houses where they are raising their children. Would they like it? Appreciate it? Think that they deserve to have respect?

So do the birds.

Mia

A follow up on these Burrowing Owls can be found here

More Burrowing Owl images