Practicing Mindful Wildlife Photography

I have often heard from other wildlife photographers, stories about other photographers and their partners pelting stones at wild birds simply so that they could get the quintessential shot of birds in flight. This, unfortunately, goes against the ethics of wildlife photography. Wild birds, especially migratory birds that visit wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, and other habitats are sensitive during the nesting season. Throwing objects at them, for the express reason that you want to take a shot of them in flight is a highly despicable action. Such actions also make wildlife nervous and fidgety when they spot people in their surroundings. No wonder, such birds and wild animals take flight (pun intended) even before you have lifted the lens to photograph them!

A Wild Jungle Cat Photographed at the Sultanpur National Park

Baiting wild ducks and wild animals is equally bad because the food you give them might not be healthy, exposing them to health risks, and perhaps even affecting their feeding habits. Imagine feeding Ducks and Geeze junk food, chips, wafers, and even bits of biscuits and cookies, along with the non-biodegradable wrappers! When tourists visit a lake and feed ducks and geese junk food, simply so that they might photograph wild birds from a close distance they are insensitive towards nature. A large number of wildlife photographers do encourage the feeding of wildlife simply to draw them closer for a better shot.

Keeping one's distance from wildlife is very important, not only for one's safety, but also to avoid startling nesting birds, or to that effect,  and nursing wild animals. Using a zoom lens will help and choosing wisely what to shoot can help. Also, avoiding rapid movements, keeping still, and merging with the surroundings can be a good idea as accepting the limitations of your lens and moving to something else could be a good solution. 

Native birds including migratory birds are very sensitive during courtship rituals and they don't take noise and disturbance by visitors. Unfortunately, the entry of noisy visitors with toddlers and even some adults can be very disturbing. For this reason, most wild birds move away from the edge of the wetland or brush abutting the dedicated paths on which visitors can walk in National Parks and forests. 

A pair of Sarus Cranes enjoy each other's company