Photographer's ethics?

[Colin Key]

There has always been controversy regarding the the ethics of bird photographers who often go to any lengths to get "the money shot" regardless of the welfare of the bird. I only ever experienced this once when I lived in the U.K. - it was a Penduline Tit at Dungeness RSPB many years ago (at the time quite a rarity) and although I had seen the bird there several times during the week (this was my favourite birding locality) when I took some friends to see it on the Saturday I was amazed at the crowds present. More cameras and long lenses than bins or 'scopes, and some absolute tossers with tape recorders wading out into the reed-bed trying to call the bird out. They did, and there followed a stampede of photographers all trying to get the best shot. Of course, the bird was not seen again (and, at the time, I was very surprised that the staff there had not intervened to prevent this - in fact, there were some of the reserve staff actually watching this debacle in a mood which I interpreted as them condoning the actions).

We have had a Spotted Crake at Lagoa dos Salgados since the 4th October which has showed very well and many people have travelled to see the bird. I have already posted a photo on this forum. Last Tuesday I took a friend (who is a bird artist) to see the bird, and it was in the open long enough for him to make some excellent field sketches. I also managed to get some even better shots than on my previous visits since the bird was becoming quite accustomed to human presence (at 20 meters or so):

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/0C0J7265.jpg


http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/0C0J7246.jpg

This morning the bird had disappeared; yesterday afternoon and this morning the site was visited by a number of photographers who have walked out onto the mud (their footprints are everywhere) in attempts to get closer and closer shots of this beautiful bird. They have "killed the golden goose (crake)". Lots of people have, and many more would have, enjoyed the fabulous views of this elusive bird but now the selfish photographers have f****d it up for everyone.

It really leaves me very split as whether to publicise the presence of a bird like this so those who wish to enjoy it can, or suppress the information (and not publish my own photos) until the bird has "naturally" moved on.

Very disappointed in the selfish actions of many people.

Colin :cry::realmad:

[Joe stockwell]

i remember one such incident myself, i was down at ferrybridge dorset photographing a couple of ringed plover getting a few shots allthough distant, two more "junior" photographers asked me what was there i told them and showed them and this followed " arrrr mayte you can get closer than that" trapsing off in the mudas idiots do, the birds dissapeared not too be seen at less than 50m

should there be a law against this?

[AndyB]

Firstly, superb photos of a difficult to photograph species. Secondly, it seems to be a problem all over the world. I have come across some terrible photographers in the states. They press their subjects mercilessly and it's the same names and faces each time. 9 times out of ten when I see them coming back from having photographed the bird, the bird has since departed.

[MichaelF]

should there be a law against this?
In some cases (particularly rare breeding birds) there already is, but it isn't enforced well.

[Colin Key]

In some cases (particularly rare breeding birds) there already is, but it isn't enforced well.

In the U.K. there is a law against disturbing ANY (not just rare) breeding birds - in Portugal (or anywhere around the Med. basin) you might just as well forget it.

Over the last few days the Câmara Municipal de Portimão (the local Council) have excavated a huge proportion of the sand dunes at Alvor in order to "shore-up" (a pun there somewhere!) a few beach restauraunts. In doing so they have destroyed the nest sites of about 70 pairs of European Bee-eaters. The local expats are up in arms about this but despite my protestations to the "Dept de Ambiente" (together with photographic evidence and citations from EU Directives) nothing has been done to halt this.

I have learned to just "look the other way" - very sad state of affairs.

Colin :realmad:

[WILCO]

I remember my first twitch at Attenborough NR in Notts a few years ago when hundreds went to see a Sora. It was giving great close but intermittent views and loads of photographers were present. Three or four of them were 'pushing it' by shoving past others when the bird appeared and getting way to close. Those nearest to the group made their feelings known and peer pressure was enough to make these idiots fall in line. All it took was a few of those at the twitch to be firm and tell them exactly what was acceptable. No problems thereafter! I think the problem today is that people are reluctant to speak out and meet these things head on, while being firm and polite.

[Colin Key]

I think the problem today is that people are reluctant to speak out and meet these things head on, while being firm and polite.

Hi WILCO (and welcome to Surfbirds Forum).

Rest assured, I am not reluctant to speak out and am VERY firm (but rarely polite!!). I am quite a large person and have no problem with confronting these morons, chucking their gear into the water, and kicking them in the "goollies" - it is just a matter of actually catching them in the act.

My other talents include slashing car tyres, pushing small bags of "fast dry" cement up exhaust pipes, writing messages with a piece of pure quartz on windscreens, and a couple of other tricks which I would never dare to make public!!

Colin :wideeyed:

[john robinson]

Hi WILCO (and welcome to Surfbirds Forum).

Rest assured, I am not reluctant to speak out and am VERY firm (but rarely polite!!). I am quite a large person and have no problem with confronting these morons, chucking their gear into the water, and kicking them in the "goollies" - it is just a matter of actually catching them in the act.

My other talents include slashing car tyres, pushing small bags of "fast dry" cement up exhaust pipes, writing messages with a piece of pure quartz on windscreens, and a couple of other tricks which I would never dare to make public!!

Colin :wideeyed:
My other talents include slashing car tyres, pushing small bags of "fast dry" cement up exhaust pipes.

Carefull Colin You may get some concrete up your exhaust (none vehicle related concrete ) Not a good idea to advocate such law breaking tactics !!
Cheers
JohnR

[FayJ]

Hi WILCO (and welcome to Surfbirds Forum).

Rest assured, I am not reluctant to speak out and am VERY firm (but rarely polite!!). I am quite a large person and have no problem with confronting these morons, chucking their gear into the water, and kicking them in the "goollies" - it is just a matter of actually catching them in the act.

My other talents include slashing car tyres, pushing small bags of "fast dry" cement up exhaust pipes, writing messages with a piece of pure quartz on windscreens, and a couple of other tricks which I would never dare to make public!!

Colin :wideeyed:

Blimey Colin, I wouldn't want to get on your wrong side! Still, I admire people who stand up to morons. Can you take your considerable talents to Malta during the hunting seasons? :laugh:

[Colin Key]

Hi Fay,

Please do not take what I said the wrong way!! I would rarely use these sort of tactics against photographers (who are not usually a big problem here, since very few Portuguese can afford good “gear”) unless they really over-stepped my own personal guidelines for field behaviour ( as the bunch of tossers who arrived to photograph the Spotted Crake at Lagoa dos Salgados in what one observer called “almost a military operation” and apparently attempted to virtually stuff their lenses up the bird’s ....).

I do however take a very dim view of so-called “hunters” and the general circum-Mediterranean culture of “kill anything that moves”. I could write a book (and am in the process of doing so) about my own campaign against these barbarians. Our young forum member Christopher in Malta, and his endeavours with the “Raptor Camp” programme, are most admirable but I feel, at the bottom of my heart, that this is a losing battle. Unless we get more people like Christopher, with even more commitment, more support from the public and from the government, and, more importantly, a huge increase in resources either via taxation or donation, then it is really a lost cause.

There are far too many people sitting within their comfortable, padded lives who scream with outrage whenever they see articles and images published by the various conservation organisations, but when it comes to actually providing any tangible help they are sadly lacking.

We have “hunting” in permitted areas every Thursday, Sunday and public holiday during the season. The laws were created in the pre-revolution (1974) days of the dictator Salazar when there were more poor people here who existed entirely on fishing, shooting game and growing a few vegetables. Now the “hunters” assemble before dawn in their very expensive 4x4 vehicles, kitted out in ex-army camo clothing with guns worth thousands of euros, drink copious amounts of Maciera (the local cheap brandy), and then set forth into the countryside to shoot and kill anything that moves. At the beginning of the season (mid-August) Portugal Telecom endures its busiest period of the year as these imbeciles blast away at perched birds and cut the telephone wires.

I have personally pursued a case as far as the courts with someone I found setting snares for rabbits and hares (in which my dog got caught) and using “spring traps” (miniature gin-traps) baited with the larvae of flying ants. This guy had over one hundred of these traps which he was setting in a protected area (part of Nature 2000, and also a Ramsar Site) and was catching several hundred birds (Robins, Pied Flycatchers, Blackcaps, thrushes, etc) every day. I collected a large number of the traps, photographed them with birds actually caught, and recorded video footage of the guy and his car. The ensuing police investigation and resulting court case were an absolute farce (you will have to wait and read my book - I might entitle it “Driving over Algarvians” - you might, or might not get the joke there). The offender actually received an apology from the court, had all his (illegal) traps returned and was given some financial compensation. At this point one gives up with “the system” - except that I didn’t, and this guy has now had his car torched and his horrible, viscious dog is dead.

From that point onwards I decided to run my own campaign against hunters and other environmental violators. I think that I could probably write a guide to “Guerilla tactics for environmental protectors”, and believe me, I do take a harsh line. There is no point in arguing with these people face to face, you need to hit their pockets, and disabling or destroying their vehicles is my method of choice. I would never cut brake pipes since this could result in innocent casualties, but other than that, “anything goes”. I now have fabricated an “L” shaped piece of steel attached to a KERR (Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope) which I can put over the top of a vehicle and slide it under the opposite sill, and with the other end on the tow bar of my Land Rover I can turn the other vehicle onto its roof in less than a minute. It is so beautiful watch (from a distance) these ........s returning to find their car upside down! The last time I employed this tactic was in the case of a rather jolly (pi$$ed) group of people who had left their Mitsubishi Straker (with two pump action shotguns in the back) to go onto the beach and pluck two buckets of Redshank, Greenshank, Red Knot and other assorted waders.


Colin (the “Avenger” - except I don't have Honor Blackman or Diana Rigg to help out!! :ohdear: )


P.S. I am probably taking a rest from the Forum for a while - another moronic person (or persons) spent a considerable amount of time during the night on Friday 7th Nov plastering both my PBase photo-hosting site and my Blog with some of the most vitriolic comments and links to the worst porn I have ever seen. It has taken me a long time to clean this up. What a sad state of affairs. :mad:

[FayJ]

P.S. I am probably taking a rest from the Forum for a while - another moronic person (or persons) spent a considerable amount of time during the night on Friday 7th Nov plastering both my PBase photo-hosting site and my Blog with some of the most vitriolic comments and links to the worst porn I have ever seen. It has taken me a long time to clean this up. What a sad state of affairs. :mad:


That's a shame. Why are people such bloody cretins? Hope it doesn't take too long, Colin.

Re. my post above, I was also trying to be tongue in cheek, but you know the medium of the net, things don't always come across as we mean them. Ah well. :laugh:

Good luck with the clean up.

[john c]

Anyone wishing to follow this thread up with a perfect example of the problem that makes so many of us leery about the activities of (some) bird photographers could do no better than googling "More Snowy Owl Harrassment" and looking at the first option,

John

[Colin Key]

Yes, I received an email recently from a friend based in Devon who went to see the Snowy Owl and witnessed what he described as "photographers trying to push their lenses up the bird's @rse".

Unfortunately the "competitive element" in both birding and bird photography will inevitably lead to this sort of behaviour. Most of us have witnessed the "scrum attitude" at large twitches where some ignorant bozos would probably trample their mothers to death in order to get a view of the bird. I think that (many) photographers are probably worse because there is a more tangible prize at stake - to obtain the best image.

I am a birder first and photographer second, but cannot abide this sort of selfish, antisocial behaviour.

Colin :hmpf: