Excuse me, how to get close to birds

When you really start shooting birds, the first problem you encounter is to occupy a good shooting position and not scare the birds away. If a photographer wants to photograph birds as close as possible, he must first be familiar with and understand the birds being photographed. For example, kingfishers like to stand on branches or rocks slightly higher than the water for a long time; Storks like to take off again and again to attack flying insects, and then fall back to their original places; Some tits are courageous and sometimes jump in to observe humans. There are many similar examples.

These understandings are very helpful for us to find corresponding ways according to the personalities of different birds. Even if we don't know much about their personalities, the problem is not big. For most birds, if they have suddenly raised their heads or stopped their whole body movements, it means that they have discovered potential dangers and are ready to escape from the scene at any time; And many social birds, such as grey magpie and red-billed blue magpie, will have birds standing guard to sound an alarm, indicating danger. Knowing these behaviors of birds, we will know when to move forward and when to stop moving forward, and wait for the birds we want to shoot to relax and make them feel that everything is safe.

Strategy 1── Keep a low profile.

Strategy 2-Don't be aggressive.

Strategy 3- Avoid eye contact with birds

During the whole process, don't stare at the bird. Most birds and animals regard this direct gaze as a great pressure, and often run away after being stared at for a few seconds. So before shooting, all the observation of birds is done through the corner of the eye, and the dynamics of animals can also be monitored through the corner of the eye.

Strategy 4- Step by Step

In the process of approaching, don't expect to reach the ideal shooting position at once. You can take a small step forward, take one first, then take a few steps forward and take another. It is easier for us to stabilize our mentality, and we are not so eager to achieve success. Once the birds are scared away, we will not have so many regrets.

Strategy 5- camouflage

When shooting birds and mammals, you must not wear brightly colored clothes, such as red and bright blue, which are very warning colors for wild animals. Most bird photographers like camouflage uniforms in khaki, green, gray or dim colors. When the sun is strong, the reflection of the equipment in our hands will also alert animals. Wrapping the lens with camouflage cloth can prevent similar situations from happening.

Strategy 6- Use cars

With a car, the situation is completely different. Many birds are quite tolerant of cars. Red-headed diving ducks are usually at least tens of meters away from people, and they can accept driving to a position only a few steps away from themselves and rest safely. In this case, we can shoot without leaving the car by lowering the window.

If you want to let wild birds relax their vigilance, you can consider adding a curtain to the window and sticking the lens out of the gap in the curtain to shoot. In this way, birds can't see the outline of people at all, and they can relax and present various behaviors in front of the camera as usual. (Excerpted from Nature Photography Manual of China Forestry Publishing House)