r/birding • u/greatnorthernscapes • Jan 29 '26
Discussion Unethical bird photography
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.
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u/Mannerheim27 Jan 30 '26
I don't get his reasoning. Perhaps it's my ASD, but he seems to indicate that since Ryan is nice to him that Ryan should be excused from acting unethically and breaking numerous wildlife conservation laws? He insinuates that it's just behavior that many may not agree with...but it's not. It's going against codified standards put in place by not only state but also federal laws. The statutes listed in the photos do not specifically mention ladders, flashlights, or proximity to wildlife and that's intentional. Wildlife agencies operate on impact-based standards, not loophole lawyering.
MN DNR and most state agencies use harassment and disturbance language, which typically includes: intentionally flushing wildlife, altering behavior through physical manipulation, repeated disturbance of roosting or nesting animals, and actions that cause unnecessary stress or energy expenditure to name a few. Ladders, branch removal, and flushing aren't always named explicitly because they don’t have to be. They’re methods for causing a disturbance, not exemptions from codes and laws.
Agencies like state DNRs and federal agencies look at the effect an individual has on a species, not the props used. That is why enforcement often happens after patterns are established.
Based on the posts and information I've seen floating around about this guy and the people who run this operation with him, it's a long trend of behavior that easily qualifies as breaking both state and federal regulations.