The document provides guidance for ethical bird photography, including tips on avoiding disturbing birds, using telephoto lenses to keep your distance, understanding bird behaviors and habitats, and basic composition techniques. It emphasizes learning bird identification and behaviors to capture interesting photos and telling stories about bird ecosystem roles and seasonal activities.

1. Getting Started in Ethical Bird Photography With Mark Bohrer

2. So you want to photograph birds… … without harming them.

3. Ethical photography preserves birds Disturb a parent, and she may abandon her young Your pictures show their value – and the right way to watch!

9. It’s about the BEHAVIOR, dude!! Avoid boring pictures – Do your behavioral homework so you know what to expect. Then wait for something interesting to happen! So what’s the story?

10. The Story – Where the birds are Long-legged waders like shallows – creeks & sloughs

11. The Story – Where the birds are Sandpipers and their kin like mud

12. The Story – Where the birds are Upland ground birds like grasslands and savannah

13. The Story – Where the birds are Raptors like forests, savannah, coastal marshes

14. The Story – Think about how they eat Double-crested cormorants dive for prey, but need to dry soggy feathers afterwards

16. The Story – Think about how they eat Some ducks dabble for seeds… Some ducks dive for live bait!

17. The Story – Think about how they eat Sparrows and other perching birds like seeds in bordering grasslands – CEREAL!

18. The Story – Think about how they eat Gulls eat anything living… … especially marine invertebrates like mussels

19. The Story – Think about how they eat California brown pelicans dive for fish American white pelicans dip for fish

21. Turkey vultures and other scavengers – Nature’s garbage men clean up carrion & organic waste The Story - Ecosystem Maintenance

22. The Story Ecosystem Maintenance Eggshells return calcium, traces of Mg and S to soil – and plants love that stuff! Chicks are prey for other birds & mammals - their remains decay into soil. More nutrients for plants – and no waste

26. Shooting techniques – Approach slowly

27. Shooting techniques – Take ‘insurance’ shots from farther away

32. Composition AKA Shot Design – Examples Keeping it simple – blurred background, one subject with environment – vertical centering is OK Give your subject room to move into the frame

35. Flight shots – Show a reference point, or blue sky

36. Behavior 2 Eating Hunting (bring a flash?) Nest-building Feeding

38. Seasonal Behavior Nesting Raising young Mating / courtship