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Posted by Grover Larkins on 12:46:40 03/06/09
In Reply to: Re: Green Cay Owl(s) Update posted by redfish
Folks,
I did a pretty thorough discourse on the use of Flash Photography on owls and birds in general back about 1990. This was at the request of ENP to Audubon and Audubon (Wayne Hoffman) dropped it on me.
1. TTL flash at 10 feet is not harmful if it is off-axis in terms of it's physiological effect on birds. The burst of light may be disconcerting but it is not necessarily so, like boardwalks, birds get "accustomed" to it.
2. Birds can, and do, look directly at the sun whereas we mere mammals cannot. A flash is nowheres near as intense a source of light as the sun....
3. On the other hand a crowd of "birders" has, on more than one occasion, led to the unassing of all avifauna able to move from a previously wonderful location. This I can state with a great deal of certainty! Politeness, no pointing and no encircling of a bird will be way more conducive to "not disturbing it" than jawboning someone that is using a flash that "bothers" you more than the bird....
BTW -- I've noted that if a species is sensitive the best policy is to NOT point it out to the world on sites like this.... ;)
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