![\"IMG_8649\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/IMG_8649.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Last spring (this image was taken 11 months ago)\u00a0we were constantly frustrated by a group of twigs that had grown almost straight up the previous summer\u00a0on top of the bush for about a foot.\u00a0 The top of\u00a0the nest\u00a0bush was their favorite perch and those twigs at least partially obscured the magpies in\u00a0many of our\u00a0images, whether they be take-off or behavioral shots.\u00a0 Mia and I often joked with each other that next time we visited the island we’d bring\u00a0my pruning sheers and lop off those darned offending twigs.<\/p>\n But of course\u00a0that’s something we’d never do.\u00a0 Birds choose nest sites for a variety of practical reasons, including seclusion, safety from predators (and unthinking humans) and\u00a0shade from the broiling summer sun.\u00a0 Altering\u00a0nest sites for the sake of a photograph is unconscionable and unethical but sadly it is\u00a0something that is often done.\u00a0 See two examples of such behavior\u00a0from the blog of my friend Rich Ditch – Bell’s Vireo <\/a>and Anna’s Hummingbird<\/a>\u00a0nests.<\/p>\n I won’t deny that I was very disappointed to have that gloriously fanned, curved and iridescent tail obscured by the twigs\u00a0but I’d rather have the shot that I got than to know that I might have put the nest at risk by pruning twigs\u00a0\u00a0(I hope that statement doesn’t strike a sanctimonious tone with anyone but this is something that I do feel strongly about).<\/p>\n And besides,\u00a0this way I can sleep at night…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By definition there is often a price to be paid for ethical nature photography since the image you get may not be the one you envisioned or hoped for.<\/p>\n