Foto at top: digiscoping with improvised camouflage and sight (!). Also noticce perfect Swarovski UCA adapter.

Bird watching and bird protection

Bird photography requires bird watching. In order to recognise birds timely in the field and absolutely never disturb or chase them and possibly create pictures of specific bird activities and behaviour you need to develop:

• Certain skills like using optimal camouflage, moving inconspiciously, listening, observing and using the right equipment and settings thereof.

• Good knowledge about general characteristics, various sounds, behaviour, migration, breeding biology and feeding of bird species.

Birding is by nature a lightweight activity because one has to move silently and often in difficult territory like swallow rivers, wadi’s, bushes, scrub, rocks, desert, etcetera. Birds can be extremely shy and you may easily disturb them, without realising that you are doing this, for example if you did not even notice them in the frst place!

It is too bad but bird species are becomng extinct or endangered and rapidly disappearing from the globe like mor flora and fauna. So by all means try to avoid disturbing or chasing birds. Observe them but notice and recognise them timely. You can find more about their appearance, behaviour, songs and sounds at Bird species.

If you honestly want to spot shy birds like Bustards (Trappen), Shrikes (Klauwieren), Bee-eaters (Bijeneters), Kingfishers (IJsvogels), several Owl spcies (Uilen), Woodpecker speccies (Spechten) and the like, you need to develop sufficient knowledge about them and spot them timely so you do not distub or chase them. Best sources are birders, birder groups, guides, books, blogs, magazines and online trip reports. As soon as you start recognizing birds, their sounds and specific behaviour like “displaying”, mating, cresting, feeding, fighting, hunting, hoovering, bathing, migrating, etcetera, you start enjoying your birding activities more and more. It may also create opportunities for attractive photography if you can better anticipate their specific actions.

Wherever birds may be, always use appropiate camouflage: Camouflage. A rare or shy bird may be close wherever you go, anytime! Use natural coverage like bush or trees wherever you are. Move slowly, pause, listen, look around you and from time to time behind you. Be extra careful near ditches, bush, walls, water, etcetera. Some very shy birds like Woodcock (Houtsnip) or Sandgrouse (Zandhoen) do not move until you almost step on them.

Acquire detailed knowledge about bird areas. Learn from birders and find out where you can observe birds in your own country or abroad, where and when they breed, feed, bath, drink, etcetera. Search for bird spots in cities, villages, parks or wherever. Mark spots on your maps “for next year”, remember time of day with direction of light, possibilities for natural coverage, distance to birds, etcetera. Try visiting interesting areas frequently. They may become your favourite spots. Enjoy the “feast of recognition” in the nest year, rtcetera, etcetera…

Most im[ortatn of all this: acquire and accumulate knowledge about bird behaviour: Learn to recognise their various sounds, signals and behaviour so you can spot them in time from safe distance.

Camera’s we ever used for digiscoping or bird photography

• Canon Powershot G3
• Fujifilm Finepix FS100FS (still in use, highquality digicompact, very good lens!)
• Panasonic LX3 (wonderful camera!)
• G1 (perfect digiscoping compact, RAW files), G3 (perfect digiscoping digicompact, RAW files),
• Nikon Coolpix P5100 (oldtimer yet good digiscoping compact, RAW files)
• Nikon System 1 V1 (our digiscoping “champion”: perfect digiscoping digicompact, RAW files).
• Nikon D300, D800, D7200, D500, V1, V3, J5, Z50 and Z7 (courtesy Nikon).

Lenses used

• Digiscoping: Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7, 1 Nikon 18mm f/1.8
• Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR II
• Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR II (spendid lens, great bokeh!)
• Nikkor 300mm f/4D (“famous” because incredibly rich detail)
• Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF VR (great quality ultra lightweight, perfect detail)
• Tamron 200-400mm f/5.0-6.3 (courtesy Tamrom)
• Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E PF VR (good lens but replaced by 500mm f/5.6E PF VR)
• Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF VR (ultralight perfect lens, also used with Nikon Z camera’s)
• Sigma Sport 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 OS (pro quality build, bit heavy, semi pro optics)
• Tamron G2 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 DI VC FSD. (perfect zoomlens, relatively light, high optical quality)

Converters used

Nikkor TC-14E II and III, Nikkor aspherical TC-20E III (high quality optics), (high quality) Sigma 1.4 converter TC1401 and (high quality) Tamron 1.4 converter TC-14X.

Telescopes used

• Kowa Prominar aperture 82mm (high optical quality)
• Nikon Fieldscope ED82 (lightweight and very good quality)
• Swarovski STM50HD (lightweight and high optical quality)
• Swarovski STM80HD (high optical quality and perfect universal digiscoping adapter UCA).

Binoculars

1. Swarovski 10 x 42 and 8 x 42
2. Pentax AD 9 x 28 WP (small, lightweight, good optics, fits in our pocket).
3. Swarovski NL 8 x 42 (stirdy, superior optics, lifetime binoculars for (semi) pro birder)

Tripods (used in case of large distance birds and or digiscoping)

• Gitzo (heavy but required for rather heavy Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR II
• Cooman (light but sufficiently stable good tripod for example with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF VR).

Tripod heads

• Wimberley (with for example heavy Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR II)
• Sirui (perfect light stable with for example Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF VR ).

“Harnas”

• Micnova for absolutely safely carrying camer at breast or (second) camera at hip.

Some pictures illustrating our bird watching bird protection and related activities: