[normhead]

Look, I'm not trying to argue.
I will always be in the "don't feed" crowd.

I understand the role of humans and our effects on wildlife. I full understand that most of the national parks have a human element that allow wildlife to exist.

But you can't just say 'Habituated' and apply that across the board.
I frequently visit national parks and wildlife preserves, I drive there and park, get out and walk the trails or along the beaches and if I go home empty handed so be it!

There is a huge difference between that and the guys who are baiting and using pheromones to coax animals into their frames...

I've seen guys nail roadkill to boards and place them in fields to bring eagles down, fighting for the kill that can't be taken.
I've heard of photographers using recordings of rare birds to attract them to a site, stressing the animal out looking for it's vocal competitor after the photographer has left.
Dropping carcasses to attract wolves and bears leads them to associate people with food. Often times resulting in "problem animals" that get killed for venturing too close to civilization to find food.

How are these equivalent to what I'm doing?

You're looking at two extremes when you say people who "do it right".
I don't have the time or money to spend hours tracking an animal with my sherpa and 300lbs of glass and carbon fiber - most of us don't have that luxury
But, there is an ethical way to go about wildlife photography.

Agreed, we all have our limits and draw the line where we think it's appropriate. To me, any animal I see hanging around garbage cans eating refuse left by humans deserves more nutritious food. I'd rather the park took control of such situations, and put bait stations with appropriate food near the garbage cans as well as regulate the areas where photographers can set up, but, the park clings to an illusion of a "natural environment" in a situation where more than million people a year visit the park.

This is currently the most contentious area of current park management, and has led to shouting matches in parking lot's. Really, people need to step back and tone it down.It's not worth some of the "in your face" confrontations I've seen. Everyone thinks they are a park ranger.

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Last edited by normhead; 12-13-2016 at 06:33 AM.

[jacamar]

While the Snowy Owl I posted was close to a path used by photographers, birders, dog walkers etc. it may not have been habituated in the sense of being used to humans. It was a first - year bird (based on the plumage) and probably just down from the Arctic, having no experience in dealing with people. It was just sitting on a rock with lots of space around it, as Snowies like to do. Also it may have been hungry and not willing to expend more energy flying.
I like to take a conservative approach. In case the bird is tired and looking for food I try to keep duration to a minimum, not get too close (in this case it was accepting of people walking by in the trail), take pics from a few angles and move on. I'm not saying that's entirely harmless in all cases, but I certainly don't like to see the social encampments that sometimes form around "charismatic" birds, or deliberately trying to flush or bait them. Having said that I am guilty of dropping the odd handful of seeds on a trail in the hope of seeing a few finches (or, in one instance, a Pine Marten!) on the return trip.

[cleaverx]

Here are shots of Short_Eared Owl from last weekend. Any of you who like owls as much as I do would appreciate this. Me and my friend tracked this owl down. We crawled (laid flat) to get this shots in wet grass and mud. Inch by inch we were able to get in good range to take shots. This owl was really tolerant to us and let us take the shots (Thank you owl :-))).
I wanted to keep aperture at f/7.1 to retain sharpness (sweet spot for this lens), but that forced me to shoot at 1/160 and I didn't want to go over ISO-1600. Amazing, how good the K-3 can stabilize the sensor considering shooting 400mm lens x 1.5 crop factor = 600mm. Also this smaller and lighter lens was much easier to crawl with :-)). My friend with his Canon 500mm f/4 had to work a little harder (but he more likely got better shots).
Not the best light conditions, shooting at 1/160 shutter speed. Dark overcast and soon as we were done shooting, it started to drizzle. We lucked out.

K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6

1/160, ISO-1600, f/7.1







---------- Post added 12-12-16 at 11:02 PM ----------

Some BiF from K1 with DFA150450 (AFC tracking with subject flying towards the camera).

Awesome shots. It seems that K-1 and D FA 150-450mm can track very well. Well done.

---------- Post added 12-12-16 at 11:45 PM ----------

I have read accounts of people doing it the "right way". It can take them months to get an image, and they have unusual skill sets when it comes to understanding where the animals will be and tracking them. If I have noticed anytime about the "don't feed" folks it's that most of them are complete phonies. They don't acknowledge the fact that they have taken images of habituated animals. If an animal knows you are there and doesn't care, it's habituated. Simple as that. According to some all photographs should be taken from blinds with really long lenses so the animal is actually not aware of your presence. That's just nonsense.

Nicely put Norm, well written.

If an animal knows you are there and doesn't care, it's habituated.

Well, this statement is partially true. I shoot mostly wildlife and wild as they get. Every animal, birds etc has a different tolerance to humans. For example Short_Eared Owls.. migratory bird. When first few owls arrived this fall they were very shy, hard to get close to them. As season progress they get used to people and get more tolerant once they realized we are not threat to them. I wear full camo, don't make noise and moving slowly helps me to get even closer. The owl knows I am there...in many cases is looking directly in to my eyes when flying by. I wouldn't say that they"don't care"...they are just a little more tolerant, but very much still wild birds. It is all about the food and least amount of energy to spend for them. Soon as the feeding grounds opens up north, they will be gone.

Another good example is Belted Kingfisher. I go during the season to one wildlife preserve and there are some Belted Kingfishers. Same birds, same spots, very territorial. I saw these birds and they saw me probably hundreds of times and I still can't get close to them. Some birds or animals keep the distance from humans more then others.

[Weevil]

Another BIF from last Sunday. Busy background, but AF.c did the trick well. Quite heavy crop (the bird was pretty far away)
K-1 + FA*250-600
1/1600 f7.1 iso800


Garrot à œil d'or / Common Goldeneye [Bucephala clangula] ♀ by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

[rgknief60]

Busy background

I don't find it distracting at all. You have a sharp subject and my eye jumps to it and studies it. Great 3D. The ability of the lens to separate the subject from/and blur the backround at 7.1 is amazing. I don't think I could use the lens to such good effect. Good job!

[Kevriano]

Those geese are spectacular. Other members of my local phot club have shown images of similar gatherings at bosque del Apache in New Mexico, although it was off-season when we were there so only a few scattered snow geese were about.

The weasel looks like a mink. but there's nothing for scale so I'm not sure it's that big.

Looks very much like the mink we see here too.

[Tatouzou]

Some wildlife picture with HD DA 55-300 at 300 on K3:









---------- Post added 12-13-16 at 10:21 AM ----------

Some more:

[Weevil]

I don't find it distracting at all. You have a sharp subject and my eye jumps to it and studies it. Great 3D. The ability of the lens to separate the subject from/and blur the backround at 7.1 is amazing. I don't think I could use the lens to such good effect. Good job!

Thanks Roger!

Looks very much like the mink we see here too.

It's a mink, I assure you 100%...
At one time, he jumped under water and I could see him swimming under some ice plates, and caught a small fish, but I wasn't able to capture that event... he was just too fast!

[cleaverx]

Another BIF from last Sunday. Busy background, but AF.c did the trick well. Quite heavy crop (the bird was pretty far away)
K-1 + FA*250-600
1/1600 f7.1 iso800


Garrot à œil d'or / Common Goldeneye [Bucephala clangula] ♀ by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

Awesome shot. Amazing blure at f/7.1

[Weevil]

Awesome shot. Amazing blure at f/7.1

Thanks cleaverx!
The trick is to have the background pretty far behind, I am not sure this is something specific to that lens...

[sculptor666]

front recent trip to the bronx zoo... da*300mm, 1/15s handheld... still some blur but not so bad.

[UserAccessDenied]

front recent trip to the bronx zoo... da*300mm, 1/15s handheld... still some blur but not so bad.

1/15 with the DA*300?
That's impressive...
Great shot!

[zzeitg]

DA*300 @ 420mm

[Weevil]

Another BIF from last Sunday


Oie des neiges / Snow Goose [Chen caerulescens] by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

[RockvilleBob]

Another BIF from last Sunday


Oie des neiges / Snow Goose [Chen caerulescens] by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

Nice Sylvain - is the brown head from the same rain you were hit with??