Should you photograph a birds nest? i don't think so.

The bird is focusing on me so i got to close, this means back up.

Simple answer to the question is: NO! you should not. But there are reasons why you can photograph the nest. If you photograph the nest There are some thing you can do to make it safe for the birds. only photograph nest that are in public areas where you are allowed to come, don't cross any fencing.

Reason to photograph a birds nest is to keep track of the nest, protect the nest or make a photographing story of the breeding bird. Never photograph the nest just for the sake of photographing a bird nest.

Guidelines for if you are photographing bird nest.

• Keep your distance!

First thing is that you need to keep your distance. A general rule of thumb is. If the bird on the nest is not tracking your movement you are far enough away from the bird. Why you don't want to come close is that you can scare the bird. if the bird is scared it while either attack you or leave the nest.

this white stork watched somebody so i creeped for ward. 

• Don't place webcams after a bird makes it nest.

If you have a nest box in your garden and want to stream the process of a bird making a nest and breeding prepare the box. When a bird starts making a nest you should never interfere with it, this is because the bird might leave the nest, the eggs or chicks. When making the nest box you need to think: do i wanna stream from this nest? if that answer is yes, i want to show the world this beautiful process of breeding. Than you need to build in a webcam. Make sure that it is legal in your region if you want to stream from a bird nest box.

• posting the location of the nest is a no no!

Sharing were the nest is is a very bad idee. Simply because other photographers might want to recreate the shot. If an inexperienced photographer tries it they might come to close to the nest of may even damage the nest. Keep the location for your self. 

The white storks are busy whit just there nest.
This means they didn't know/care i was there photographing

• Camera setting for photographing a nest.

   As we have established we need to be far away from the nest. we need a long lens. Long lenzen have a small depth of field. This is something to consider. The best way is to get the whole nest in focus. with the birds eyes as focus point. So a small aperture is prefered. something like f/7.1 or F/9. Keep your shutter speed high enough to be able to hand hold. A tripod can do a lot of damage to the area. this means you need to boost your iso. If you want to be able to print the images keep your iso between 100 and 400. higher iso's are still usable for web use.

So now you know what to keep in mind when you decide you do need that photograph of a bird nest.

If you photograph bird nest is at your own risk. You decide to photograph them so you are responsible.

Goose are very strong birds so don't upset them.

If you liked this blog-post please share this onto your Facebook page or on twitter.

I am Claes Touber a Dutch Photographer. My photography spreads from landscape photography to wildlife photography. 

These forms of photography give me more opportunities to capture emotions that will for fill me. Every day there is a new opportunity and a new adventure waiting to capture. 

My work can be found and bought on:

photoblog society6 redbubble portfolio werk aan de muur 500px prime fine art america

For more information contact me at: claestouber@yahoo.com

Support me so i can keep taking photographs and upload them to the blog:

paypal.me/claestouber