Getting Closer to Birds

Getting Closer to Birds

A year and a half back when I started learning photography, I used to wonder how the Nature Photographers are able to get such lovely pictures of birds. On 1st November, 2006, myself and Amar Bhaskar decided that we should put our photographic talents to test. Just during that week, we read that Egrets had been spotted at Hebbal Lake. First, we did not even know how to get to Hebbal Lake. We also had no prior experience of photographing birds. After a couple of rounds around Hebbal Fly-over, we spotted some egrets in a field close to the fly-over. We parked the car near the fly-over and walked down a track to reach the field. As we went down, we noticed many Small Egrets picking up insects from the field. We stopped at a spot close to the field and unpacked our camera and lenses. Having satisfied ourselves with the settings, we turned around to start shooting pictures. To our surprise, we could find NOT A SINGLE EGRET ! They all flew away.

That is the moment I realized that taking good pictures is all about being at the right place, at the right time of day with right equipment. Well, it was not our day. We had to return without a single frame.

Birds especially present a challenge. Birds by nature are pretty sensitive and do not like to be approached by human beings. Different birds have different levels of sensitivity to human beings. For example, Kingfishers do not allow you to get closer than 100 feet. Then how does one take good pictures of birds?

Photographers use different techniques for approaching birds. Most techniques require photographers to use some form of camouflage to cover oneself before approaching the bird.

One of the easiest techniques is to shoot from the car. While birds are averse to human beings, they do not mind sitting close to a car. They do not seem to notice the human beings inside the car. There are occasions when we could get so close to the bird that the bird was within minimum focusing distance of the lens. Here is an example of shoot-out session at Mavathur where we were photographing Indian Roller. My friend Goutham could navigate the car to within 4 feet of this bird. Most birds do not let you get this close even by using the car. Some techniques I learned from Satish are:

1. Try and figure out the minimum distance the bird will allow you. Start with longer distance and keep getting closer.
2. Allow the bird to get comfortable with your car. Generally birds start ignoring you after a few attempts to get closer.
3. Try to keep the camera out even as you approach the bird. Extending the camera out of the window after you got closer to the bird may frighten the bird.
   

If you are able to locate a spot to which a bird keeps coming to very often, then you can try using a "Hide". This typically happens when the bird is raising chicks in its nest. The chicks are voracious eaters. Mother and father birds typically keep coming back to the nest with insects or other food to feed the chicks. A hide is nothing but a small tent with holes for extending the lens out. We have used Gunny (Jute) Bags draped over a few sticks as a hide in the past. You can also get sophisticated hide frame and camouflage clothes to build a hide.

After spotting the bird's nest, the Photographer typically chooses a suitable spot closer to the nest from where he can take pictures with a good background and lighting direction. The next step is to set up a perch on which the bird can come and sit. Before entering the nest, the bird typically sits on a perch close to the nest to survey the environment and then enters the nest. The perch is typically a broken twig that provides the required hight from the ground. Then you enter into the hide and wait for the bird to get used to the perch and the hide. You can shoot the bird as and when it comes and rests on a perch. You can typically produce great pictures using the Hide technique.

Here is a hide constructed out of gunny clothes. We shot pictures of Red Munia at Omkar Hills using this hide. We fastened the sides of the Gunny with safety pin and tied the bag to some nearby branches. A hole in the front for the lens and you are ready to go. We sat in this Gunny bag for 8 hours to shoot 10 pictures of Red Munia.

Enjoy bird photography..... It is exciting and rewarding...

- Murali Santhanam