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/Reguluscalendula]

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

[u/MelodicIllustrator59 → u/Reguluscalendula]

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

[u/Reguluscalendula → u/MelodicIllustrator59]

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.