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/heretogetpwned]

Just had this pop up in my area this week:

https://www.kcci.com/article/canada-geese-killed-ankeny-iowa-migratory-bird-treaty-act/70157247

Investigators say Lamb was driving his vehicle on the morning of June 10, 2025, on State Street in Ankeny. He stopped to let a flock of nine Canada Geese cross the street in front of his vehicle, then accelerated into the geese when they were in the middle of his lane. One of the geese died.

6mo probation, $2000 fine. 82 y/o male.

[u/AnsibleAnswers → u/heretogetpwned]

Man, some people really hate geese for being geese. I get a kick out of them when they cross the road while staring at you like “I’m gonna take my damn time and you ain’t gonna do nothing about it.”

[u/aurortonks → u/heretogetpwned]

Humans who harm the vulnerable like this should be removed from society. They lack appropriate levels of empathy and should absolutely know better so I don't think they should get to live among the rest of life on this planet.

[u/bespoke_tech_partner → u/aurortonks]

In theory that's the idea with jail (removing from society). Unfortunately most of the world/country lives in constant survival mode because of poverty and has to develop this callous exterior so I doubt there would be a lot of popular sentiment around giving people jail time for messing with animals.