How My Nikon Ruined Me For Bird Watching
When my mother-in-law says “garage sales ruined me for retail!” I think I know what she meant.
Birding has taken a strange twist since I bought my first dSLR with zoom (Nikon D90 with 70-300 mm lens) a few months ago.
Before, I could be completely satisfied to tick off a wide variety of migratory birds on a bird walk–the colorful warblers, the stoic flycatchers, the nimble gnatcatchers–and if I found a life bird, that made my day, sometimes my entire week or month!
This Eastern Phoebe nests under the eaves of a smelly, rotten outhouse at Mendon Ponds Park, Rochester, NY. Look closely and you'll see the legs and antennae of some poor insect protruding from the bird's bill.
But now, the quality of my birding trip is unintentionally measured by the number of dazzling bird images I bring back home. I can chase a bird for an hour trying to lock in an ID, and finally be successful, but if I don’t have a decent image of it, then my entire trip feels like a big, fat failure!
And considering I can barely get my dSLR off Auto, I’m seeing a lot of failures!
Does that stop me? Hell, no. If I go too long without a “winning” photo (keep in mind my standards are low, but in keeping with the complexity of this new toy), I start jonesing for the hunt–the photographic hunt.
I…Must…Bring…Quarry…Home…To…Family (and my blog!).
Seems there’s a whole lot of other birders and bloggers are trying their luck with dSLRs these days, so maybe I’m not the only one here…
Birding is about enjoying nature and the lucky among us are content to stop there–ID or no ID.
But eventually, it evolves to the thrill of the chase. The triumph of a getting a solid ID on a new, rare, or beautiful bird keeps our palms sweaty and eyes alert. Or it’s the quest of identifying each bird that shares our visual and auditory space, wherever we happen to be.
The very fact that there’s something out there waiting to be identified is what wakes us up at the crack of dawn and drives us half way around the world and back.
Enter the photographic element. This makes us wild with a hunger to not only SEE but to CAPTURE a tiny piece of the bird and stuff it into our mental pocket. An image-harmless and beautiful-is enough. Add the perfect light, stunning plumage, and flawless composition– we’ve then obtained the holy grail!
Veni. Vidi. Vici.
Now my quest is to capture the best photos I possibly can while living into my lifelong urge to “steal the soul” of wild creatures.
I do this so they may live free while their wildness lives inside of me.
Seems that just like Granny is ruined for retail, my Nikon has ruined me for the good ole’ days of bird watching where “just listing” was my goal.
***
In my next post, I describe how this new tick drove me out of bed last Saturday morning.
About the Author (Author Profile)
I bird, I write, and I help produce websites. I am a writer and web communications consultant based in Rochester, New York.Comments (11)
Links to this Post
- Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) | May 28, 2009
- Head on Over To “I and the Bird” #102 | Birds, Words, & Websites | June 12, 2009
- Hey, The Old Birding Thrills Still Resonate! | Birds, Words, & Websites | June 13, 2009
Great post, I completely identify with you! Been there, still doing that . . . .
Though I have to admit, I like being ruined by these photographic quests. I was sliding, or had already slid, into a world of “heard-only” birds: if I heard (and identified) a Magnolia Warbler, I didn’t bother to to try and find it. The voice-only ID had become enough. Call it “ruined by eBird” – if I could document it for wider use, that was enough.
Now I not only track it down to see it, I’m back into studying behavior, movements, surroundings; seeing nature for the first time again. I’ve got to get better at “stealing souls,” though!
-Mike
“I like being ruined…”
Makes the art seem sinfully delicious. : )
You are exactly right about how the photo opps make you pause, slow down, and examine what’s in the bush, rather than walking by and ticking it off a list.
So instead a linearly progressive evolution of the birding mania, can photog bring a nature lover back full circle? Hmmm….
Thanks for your perspectives, as always.
We REALLY need to spend a day shooting together, and I have some ideas of how/where we can test some limits.
Laura
I can relate! I dont have an DSLR but I bought a Canon with a 20x optical zoom..I find I am trying to get that good birdie picture…I really never did much bird photograpy other than some digiscoping.
I find that as a learning birder..I am also taking photos to document birds I see..I dont care so much if the photos are art quality..
I also find that I learn a bit more about the bird ..i stick around a bit more trying to get a nice shot.
When I download the pics to my computer ..I am re-learning …looking at the photo again for detail..ID..what other birds did I capture..what are they?
I rather enjoy blogs that document birds seen with photos that arent quite in focus…or the bird may be a small dot in the middle of a cloud of leaves.
Its not important…Its the excitement..the enjoyment in seeing the bird at all….
I do appreciate the birders who are great photographers as well…but both capture the beauty..
Yes..I saw it…the photos not great..I will try harder…but look what I saw…isnt it cool?
I started blogging about birds because I couldnt find the time to get out and bird, now I’m birding and blogging and just about to dive into DSLR, from whose grasp there seems no way back. Slowing down and allowing more of the immediate to permeate can’t be a bad thing.
Again, all very good perspectives on the practice of bird photography that make it less like a guilty pleasure and more like a back-to-basics nature appreciation tool! Let’s battle nature deficit disorder by making sure every child has his or her own dSLR by age 10!
Dawn, you elevate birding bloggers everywhere with the position that our meager photos are still nice to look at! And, by the way, you get some great close-ups with your 20x Canon! I enjoyed your shorebird posts from the Atlantic beaches.
Alan, watch out, the dSLR bug has a vicious (and expensive!) bite! But it’s so completely awesome and gratifying. Or at least the pursuit of the perfect image is! Life is never about the destination, right?
I know exactly how you feel, Laura!
I use a dSLR Alpha 100 for photography. I guess the best piece of advice is to focus on the bird’s eye. If the eye is in focus it is the difference between an average picture and an out-standing picture.
Jim
Hi Laura-I too feel like I haven’t had a truly great day out birding unless I have some good pictures to bring home with me. I have never been a lister. I came to bird photography from a general digital photography hobby, and a bird epiphany of sorts. I love to sit still in a great spot and study bird (and other wildlife) behavior – they do the darndest things!
Happy “shooting.”
