How To Be A Good Birdwatcher?

Pocket friendly DSLRs, jumbo telephoto lenses, and exposure on different social media platforms are increasingly influencing people from different fields to adopt this hobby.

- Asif Raja Khan

Nowadays, bird photography is a trendy passion among people all over the world. Pocket friendly DSLRs, jumbo telephoto lenses, and exposure on different social media platforms are increasingly influencing people from different fields to adopt this hobby. Some of them are Engineers, some of them are Doctors, some of them are teachers, government employees etc. Every hobby, passion or addiction has its positive and negative side both. Of course, bird photography is not an exception. Because of this hobby, people from different fields come close to nature and become more aware about wildlife conservation, importance of a tree, a wetland, and a forest.

But amateur bird photography also has some dark ‘behind the scenes’. Obscure knowledge about ecology, wildlife, bird behaviour, and blindly running behind the ‘perfect shot’ without any basic knowledge about ecosystem and habitat has nowadays become a threat for wildlife.

Few years ago, when I got a DSLR and a telephoto lens, just like other amateurs, I wanted to be a professional wildlife photographer. That time, I was a student, didn’t have enough money to do safaris in forests, so I chose birds as my wildlife subject. I spent a lot of time with my camera, trying to learn everything, every technique of my new toy. Honestly speaking, that time, Birds were just some colorful subjects for me. I had no basic knowledge about Ecology, Ethology or conservation.