Head-on flight shots of owls have often been baited using live, store-bought mice. I’m of the opinion that baiting raptors is not only unethical (a debate I’d prefer to not get into here) but unnecessary for those kinds of images. However they typically require patience, intimate knowledge of the subject, a keen eye for interpreting behavior and even a little luck.
I have many head-on flight shots of Barn Owls and Short-eared Owls and even a few of Burrowing Owls and not one of them was baited or set up in any way. I’m still working on that type of shot with Great Horned Owls and I suspect I’ll get some one day but you can count on the fact that they won’t be baited if I do.
I hope I’m not coming across as being sanctimonious about it but this is something I have strong feelings about.
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in
This male Short-eared Owl was delivering voles to his family. He would hunt and when successful would usually follow the same pattern – land on a short, metal post with the vole in his talons, switch the vole from his talons to his beak while on the post and then take off for the nest. So after watching this behavior I knew where to position my pickup (I nearly always shoot from my vehicle) so that I could get these types of shots as he came into the post and then took off from it.
In this image, he’s coming in to land on the post. The background is mountains in shade.
Ron
Great photo of the Short-eared owl. My favorite owl. I saw some photos of another “Marsh Owl” from Africa, it also had dark eye rings like the Short-eared owl. I wonder why they have these markings (block out sun refection like baseball players with charcoal under their eyes?).
The mousing of owls for photographic instant gratification and bragging / ego boosting is really getting out of hand now with the latest irruption of Snowy Owls. I am hearing from photographers up north that some owls are being fed so many mice by photographers, and birders, that they are not hunting. They are sitting in the same place all day waiting for the “handouts”. This is really screwed up. I wish the authorities would make mousing of owls/raptors illegal. I feel bad enough photographing an owl hunting in an non-baited situation, as I know my presence does have some impact on the owls survival. The solution, IMHO, is to outlaw baiting and to change the normative behavior. Ron, I love how you make it clear you do not bait. That makes your already splendid photos even more enjoyable.
Baiting saves time and what you do Ron teaches patience.
I have kept your wonderful image on my desktop to remind me to wait patiently and smile.
Thanks
The owl against that background looks great.
I agree with a lot of what people have said about baiting. I don’t think it happens with any regularity in Australia. Some people may drag a road-kill off the road and into a better location for photos of maybe Wedge-tailed Eagles, but it would be a once off I would think if it does.
This way he she has the food with it. Great light in this shot. I did not have my camera with me as I sat on a bench during a break today but was thinking of what shots I could get if I just waited long enough.
Thanks, Jane. “Waiting” patiently is one of the keys. And being ready for it when it happens.
Speaking strictly as a Falconer. I agree with Ron. As a partner in the protection of Raptors, my good friend Sakura was trapped on a busy highway where she was learning a very bad habit, hunting with the aid of moving cars. She would surly have died on the bumper of an unsuspecting SUV. She now has learned the skills needed to hunt rabbits from the bush. And when she is released in a few years (or leaves on her own) she will NOT be sitting on a pole somewhere looking for the help of a car to find prey. Having said that, the hamsters used to lure her from the pole? The two guys who were jumping around in the trap waiting for her? Hawk traps protect the prey, so Dale & Tuck are just fine! They have a beautiful domestic setting in our home, and love the two kids who care for them….
When you finally get that Great Horned Owl head-on shot Ron, we’ll have one heck of a party..lol. 🙂
Tim
Tim, I was hoping a falconer might chime in here. I loved the story about Dale and Tuck. And it sounds like Sakura now has a better chance of long-term survival once she is released than she had before.
If I ever get that head-on flight shot of a Great Horned, you can bet I’ll have it plastered all over your screen at the first opportunity!
I suspect that the photographers who resort to baiting are more interested in the ‘product’ than in the bird. Which is so very wrong.
And yes, I love your owl series (and all of your photos) without wondering whether I need to feel guilt at the manipulation of the bird(s).
I think in the vast majority of cases you’re absolutely right, Elephants Child. For those who stoop to baiting raptors, it’s the photograph that tends to matter most.
I agree, Ron – and when you choose to think about it, you can sometimes tell when a shot is baited. i.e., a mouse running across the TOP of unbroken snow, great gray owl right behind … yeah right! OR a white mouse! I think NOT baiting takes a lot more skill and, obviously, ethics. Biologists bait spotted owls all the time, of course – for research purposes, which in the long run serve to benefit the birds. They would not have been listed as threatened under the ESA without that research and that research was only made possible by baiting the males in with calls and live mice, so the researchers could see what he did with it. If he ate it – not nesting; if he flew off with it, they could follow and find the nest or mate. But just for a photo? Not okay. The same with birdwatchers using territorial calls during nesting season to be able to see a bird (and check it off their list) – but from the bird’s point of view, it’s very disturbing to think another male has invaded his space and it takes him away from legitimate duties of feeding and protecting his family.
“But just for a photo? Not okay.”
Agreed, Louise. For legitimate and well-trained researchers who have a clear and well designed scientific goal and are mindful of putting as little stress and danger on the birds as possible, baiting is a useful tool that potentially will benefit birds and all of us. Clearly, that’s in a different league than baiting birds for a photograph.
I also agree with your views regarding birders (and bird photographers) who use electronic calls to bring the birds in.
Just signed up for your blog…LOVE your photos and equally love your respect for nature. Thank you for both!
Welcome, Pamela! Hope you enjoy the company around here (and the photos, of course).
Wonderful shot Ron!
Thanks, Charlotte.
Honesty in anything is all too rare a commodity these days, as is real patience. And that’s one major difference between you and a lot of bird photographers. The other difference I see is that you are not out there just to snag photos. You care about the creatures you are photographing, and you are interested in seeing who they are and how they live. That comes out in your photos very clearly, and it’s an element that is missing in most of the bird photographs I’ve seen by other photographers. There is nothing wrong with feeling strongly about right & wrong, or expressing that feeling. You can’t care about the birds and be okay with baiting.
“You can’t care about the birds and be okay with baiting.”
These are my thoughts too, Susan. At the least I’d say that many (perhaps most) baiters care more about getting the shot than they do for the welfare of their subjects, especially when it comes to owls.
Wonderful head-on shot, Ron…I’m so glad you don’t bait. I find it very disturbing for many reasons…for one thing, I have ethical problems with using one small, captiive life to set a photo of its killer. I’ve raised owls, and when one captures its own prey so that it may survive, that’s one thing, but to set some, small,defenseless, helpless being up to be killed, just so you can take a picture in an artificial, manipulated situation bothers me greatly! That is NOT nature doing its thing…it’s self-centered, selective, and cruel in my eyes.
“That is NOT nature doing its thing”.
Exactly, Patty. And for that reason I don’t believe baited images are nature photography.
YOU’RE OK, RON DUDLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
🙂
Ron: Another one of your terrific Owl images. I agree with you about the practice of live baiting of owls / raptors. I see images posted all the time on nature sites and other photo sharing sites with no mention of how the image was captured. In the end, I believe it gives photographers a bad name when the information is not disclosed, and in general for doing so in the first place. As you have demonstrated many times, you don’t have to bait them to get killer images.
Thanks, Keith. Coming from you, especially with your background and experience in bird photography, everything you said here means a lot to me.
Fabulous image Ron. To be honest I’m so illiterate about photography that I never even knew that people baited & set up images of birds until I started reading your blog! I guess I just haven’t ever really given it any thought & took images at face value. My husband always said I am too trusting of humans, but I’ve always tried to look on the bright side & give people the benefit of the doubt first I guess. 😉
Thank you, Deb. The practice is more common than most folks think, especially since many photographers don’t disclose their methods.