I really enjoy photographing birds, for a host of different reasons. If the bird is very small in the picture, I may keep that image purely as a record of the sighting. I also use images of poor aesthetic quality, where the bird is obscured by vegetation or is poorly focused, to identify the species. I can easily take these kinds of images at a considerable distance by using a telephoto lens.
However, if I am trying to take a photograph of a bird that I intend to use in print or for my own website, I find that I need to be far closer to my subject. There are photographic advantages to this: having an image in which the bird is filling enough of the frame can mean less or no cropping, which is key to good print quality. Images taken when the camera is less than 10 metres from the subject typically result in maximum clarity with less atmospheric distortion. Fine feather and bill details are fully revealed.
However, getting ‘close enough’ to wild birds is not always that easy – very few tolerate a direct approach by a person and will simply move away. Here are some steps that I always take and which I believe give me a good chance of getting reasonably close to my subject.
Minimise tripod noise
If I am in a location where I am using a tripod and waiting for birds to appear, I make sure that my tripod’s legs are properly locked and that the feet are firmly grounded. Equally importantly, I make certain that my camera can swivel through its tracking arc on the tripod mount without making any clicking or clunking noises. Those hard, metallic noises inevitably scare birds away.
Freedom of movement
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.
