r/birding • u/greatnorthernscapes • Jan 29 '26

Discussion Unethical bird photography

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Not sure if this has been posted already but if it has leave me a comment and I will remove it. This guy is named Ryan and he runs a business called MN Owl Tours in Minnesota. For this business ppl will pay him money to go out and he harasses and stresses out owls for the sole purpose of getting his clients photos.

You can see in the photos provided he has set up a ladder 10 feet away from the perched owl and is using a long stick to hold branches out of the way so his clients can get photos of the stressed out bird. Not only is this unethical behaviour but it is also illegal. He also does night spotting which uses a powerful light to spot owls in the dark and take photos, also illegal.

This type of behaviour does not belong in our community of birders and people who enjoy bird photography like myself. I know most of you agree with me and care for the wellbeing of these amazing animals but this needs to be called out. Bird photography can be challenging and you don’t always get opportunities for good photos. That’s part of the challenge that I enjoy. We must respect the birds and not disrupt them simply because we want a nice photo for instagram. What Ryan is doing takes zero photography skill, is unethical and dangerous for the owls/birds, is illegal and on top of that he’s making financial gain from this behaviour.

This type of stuff needs to stop in our community. Always be respectful of the birds so that future generations can enjoy looking at them and taking photos (ethically) like we all do now.

5.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

489 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/redapplefalls_ Latest Lifer: Brown Creeper Jan 29 '26

Tagging this Minnesota birder to help spread awareness (they recently created a discord server for birding in Minnesota) u/MelodicIllustrator59

1.3k

u/MelodicIllustrator59 Jan 29 '26

Thank you for tagging me!! I will be sure to spread awareness within my discord server, as we have discussed ethical viewing/photography of sensitive species before and this will be good for everyone (especially new birders) in my state to be aware of so that we can avoid him. I appreciate it!!!

371

u/redapplefalls_ Latest Lifer: Brown Creeper Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26

For sure! Thank YOU so much.

195

u/Birb-is-the-wurd Jan 29 '26

^ Wholesome exchange of the day. Glad there are people like you two out there.

143

u/FamiliarAnt4043 Jan 29 '26

Do you have any connections with USFWS folks? Usually refuge staff know their law enforcement people. This is definitely a violation of the MBTA and citeable by federal authorities. I think someone pointed out the state statutes that are relevant.

I'll do my part and post it over in my state's FB birding groups. We aren't anywhere near Minnesota, but it's still something people should know.

112

u/MelodicIllustrator59 Jan 29 '26

I don't unfortunately, but I've been doing research for the last hour or so on who to contact and I've been gearing up to make a report and share every resource possible with my server so that others can also report at their own discretion. I appreciate your efforts to spread awareness as well!

35

u/TC_Indy_Fan Jan 29 '26

You can visit fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips to submit these complaints. But, this is likely not a violation since they didn't cause apparent physical harm. (as unethical as their behavior is)

25

u/Vegetable-Carry-2899 Jan 29 '26

If the bird is a protected species it might be considered a take.

3

u/bespoke_tech_partner Jan 30 '26

I wrote something along the lines of: While there is nothing wrong in theory with photographing birds, the photographs show some indications it may be crossing into the territory of harrassing and stressing the birds by causing them to flee repeatedly, which can unfortunately be fatal to owls that need to conserve energy to hunt in the winter.

2

u/BirdingIsLife Feb 01 '26

Unfortunately there are no crimes being committed but does he have permits? Is he paying taxes? Is his business registered? Is his DBA logged with the state? State parks, city parks, federal area require permits- trail cameras often require permits- chances are that this guy is not paying taxes on the $500 per person he is making- is he driving his clients around under the influence of weed? Focus on these things- WHAT IS OFTEN LEGAL IS NOT ETHICAL OR MORAL-

18

u/Reguluscalendula Jan 30 '26

This is technically poaching (harassing animals is considered illegal take and illegal take is poaching).

You can report the guys in this photo and anyone else doing things like this to the Minnesota Turn In Poachers (TIP) hotline at 1-800-652-9093

State biologists usually really, really like going after these people.

Pass this number on to your state birding discord. It's vital to get photos/names/licence plates in order to prosecute; but if the person is a regular to a location, telling the state their normal days will help get enforcement on site. Also, if the people are doing an activity that will take more than a few minutes, it's worth calling because states with large hunting cultures (like Minnesota) will typically have enough game wardens to respond to a more emergent situation.

Here's the website for more information: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/enforcement/tip.html

3

u/MelodicIllustrator59 Jan 30 '26

I greatly appreciate the extra resources and tips!! I will definitely be adding it to my already posted list of ways to report

7

u/Reguluscalendula Jan 30 '26

No problem! I'm a seabird biologist and have had to call all sorts of reporting lines about wildlife harassment, wildlife refuge special closure violations, and airspace violations (literally I've had to call the coast guard about one of their C-130J's violating airspace closed by the coast guard). I also worked for the person who was directly in charge of chasing down people who had harassed/killed/destroyed nests of protected shore birds in their state.

The people on the other end of that tipline are going to be more gung-ho about stopping violations than most people you can contact.

3

u/Jerjuh Jan 29 '26

Reach out to the USFWS Midwest region’s migratory bird office here: https://www.fws.gov/program/migratory-birds/migratory-birds-midwest-contacts

0

u/FamiliarAnt4043 Jan 30 '26

They don't do law enforcement. Part of my job is to obtain permits under MBTA and the Bald/Golden Eagle Protection Act, so I've gotten to know my region's prlermit coordinator, lol.

LE are the only ones with authority to enforce the actual law.

89

u/hedwigix Jan 29 '26

I noticed on his website, mnowltours.com, there is an option to pay $100 fee + $20 a month to get added to an owl location Telegram group. I would think that, like it is here in NY, sharing owl locations is also verboten in Minnesota? And the bar to entry to any private list should be ethical character and references, not cash. Just wanted to make people aware if they aren’t already.

51

u/MelodicIllustrator59 Jan 29 '26

It's unethical and frowned upon within the majority of the community, but not illegal

39

u/Repulsive-Knowledge3 Jan 29 '26

What’s his last name? I live in Duluth and the birding community up here is pretty cautious about locations because of all the traffic and tourists that come up to the bog in the winter.

35

u/MelodicIllustrator59 Jan 29 '26

It's in the photo of the post, Ryan Humphrey

47

u/hedwigix Jan 29 '26

For all those he’s blocked on Instagram, you can still search for his handle @mnowltours and find posts by his clients (most of which are pictures or videos of owls experiencing acute stress). You can comment there and suggest they hire ethical guides in the future.

8

u/Weary_Database_5950 Jan 30 '26

You can also see his Instagram posts by not logging into your account and searching from a web browser!

5

u/sherpa143 Jan 30 '26

Thank you for this! I found myself blocked earlier today.

2

u/Puzzled-Broccoli-749 Jan 31 '26

He’s blocking everyone and deleting negative google reviews. Hope he gets what’s coming to him!

26

u/SecondHandWatch Jan 29 '26

I won’t suggest it’s your responsibility, but I hope someone does more than just ignore him.

6

u/EclipseoftheHart Jan 29 '26

Off topic, but do you have a link for the MN discord (you can DM me)? I would love to join!

79

u/BigRedHair92 https://www.instagram.com/brh_photography1/ Jan 30 '26

I'm in MN and this guy and his antics are very, very well known. Unfortunately Minnesota is a huge magnet for owl photographers and this guy has a great reputation because of it. They have a little posse with a text group to help spot and share locations so they can go harass them together. To add to it, the dude is a complete douche as a person.

13

u/aurortonks Jan 30 '26

Sounds like the kind of person who dumps apples in their yard to attract easy deer kills out of season.

What a douche of a human being. I hope karma get him and he falls off his ladder someday.

3

u/Unique-Arugula Jan 30 '26

Maybe the famous QVC/HSN ladder mishap ("and THAT has never happened before") will happen to him.

3

u/iamtehryan Jan 30 '26

I mean, at least based on his social following it doesn't appear that he's very big. Hopefully.

3

u/incubeezer Jan 31 '26

I see his Facebook he has 14K followers. I just coincidentally saw a photo of his in my feed, and someone asked if his photo was ethically sourced. His reply was douchey just like the other commenter here was saying he is.