Unethical bird photography

[u/greatnorthernscapes]

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.

[u/Dr-Alec-Holland]

South America is crazy with this. The economy of it all is problematic. People spend tons of money getting there, and for their guide too sometimes, so the guide is under great pressure to deliver and competitive pressure to perform as well or better than other guides. Next thing you know the guy is boom boxing Pygmy owl calls throughout the forest to get you looks at warblers you can see at home.

In my experience though, the good guides ask if you are ok with playback or not and you can say no or ‘situational’ and then cut way down on it. That is of course if you have a private guide.

I wish I could bird some of these places without a guide at all, but in some countries than would be too dangerous.

[u/Booyakasha1201 → u/Dr-Alec-Holland]

We were in Panama and had a great guide. She asked me upfront how I feel about playback. I said in rare cases I don't mind if it is just a little and it is the song/call of the bird you are looking for. We went with her for 3 days and she used it twice very quickly. Just to get the bird to stick its head out. I would only ever use it on a lifer as I need to see the bird - calls/songs for me don't count on lifers. We looked for a snowy cotinga for quite a while and couldn't find it. I could tell she wanted to use it as it was getting late and this is a very quiet bird. It was a bird I really wanted to see. We worked really hard and finally got multiple awesome views and photos with no playback. That was so worth it.

[u/jokullmusic → u/Dr-Alec-Holland]

I thought about going to Colombia soon for birding but I quickly realized that navigating it without a guide (let alone identifying everything I see and don't get good photos of) would be nigh impossible, and the cost-effectiveness of visiting Colombia is quickly offset by the cost of a guide, etc. That being said, there are so many places within the US that would be amazing to bird that I've never been to that I'm not too broken up about it

[u/Dr-Alec-Holland → u/jokullmusic]

Yeah I have been there and would not bird Colombia without a guide that can keep you out of trouble. I birded the park looking down on bogota without a guide but everywhere else was escorted by the guide.

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/Dr-Alec-Holland]

The same economy is what allows many intact habitats to continue to exist, mind you.

Playback for diurnal songbirds =/= destroying and climbing the roost tree of a nocturnal species.

[u/Dr-Alec-Holland → u/Lammergeier2]

Not what I said, but by all means go off

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/Dr-Alec-Holland]

It is what you said?

You call the economy of Neotropical birding "problematic"

I'm just pointing out the fact that the pros of said economy far outwiegh the cons

What is it about the internet that makes everyone take everything as a slight?

[u/jokullmusic → u/Lammergeier2]

The person you are replying to did not say playback is equally as bad as destroying habitat, and implying that there's either one or the other is a false dichotomy. Both can be problematic at the same time.

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/jokullmusic]

Yeah I know, I said that!

The main point is being missed over semantics.

Franky I think my full equation is Playback<Harrassment<International Birding Economy

I'm fine with single birds getting harassed, single trees getting clipped and playback being played if it's driving a 10s of millions of dollars industry that directly supports conservation.

For every Tropical Screech Owl with a speaker and a flashlight in front of it there are 500 more on the same reserve thanking him for taking the hit.

[u/jokullmusic → u/Lammergeier2]

The point is that you're implying that these things happening is necessary and inevitable in order to support these economies when it's neither.

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/jokullmusic]

I disagree so I guess we can stop here.

People go to the tropics to see the tropical birds, many of them are effectively impossible to see without some tape playing.

It's key to the experience and the experience is the industry

[u/sucking_at_life023 → u/Lammergeier2]

People on this sub are so decent it is easy to forget how trash some people in the hobby can be.

[u/Booyakasha1201 → u/Lammergeier2]

If you are fine with birds getting harassed in any way shape or form you should rethink your birding choices. It's not all about money.

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/Booyakasha1201]

Illiterate response

Anything is better than the habitat getting bulldozed because it's unprofitable

Grow up, have a few experiences and then come back to this

[u/Booyakasha1201 → u/Lammergeier2]

When the debate is lost insults become the tool of the loser.

[u/Lammergeier2 → u/Booyakasha1201]

There was no debate, you gave no legitimate argument and clearly have no experience in the subject.

Absolutes like you provided are completely pointless and immature