You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush.
― John Burroughs[i], American Naturalist
Who are the participants in our Photo Ahimsa practice? Jim is often the photographer; Dedrie is a ‘field’ person, and Hilda, the Editor, is a standby photographer. The other willing participants are often other family members, and last, but not least, our avian dwellers in backyards, gardens, parks, national parks, and sporting ovals throughout Australia.
One can practice Photo Ahimsa anywhere where there are birds! To illustrate. Recently, from our apartment window, looking out at the massive River Red Gum in our neighbour’s garden, we were transfixed by the antics of a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Figure 2 below), entering her nest—a huge hole on the other side of the branch. It was a captivating moment as the bird shuffled along doing circus tricks as it went, finally disappearing into the large hole.
Figure 2: Sulphur Crested Cockatoo—Toorak, Victoria.
You don’t need to follow ‘best practice’ methods to succeed at Photo Ahimsa; there are, however, some basic steps needed for success.
Effective communication with potential avian friends, who fly away readily, requires a lot of patience and time. Good vision and hearing are an advantage, and slow, quiet movements are highly recommended.
We use low-cost aging equipment, such as a Canon EOS 200D DSLR. We use a Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5–6.3 telephoto lens to capture the tiny, elusive subjects or those at a distance. The downside of using a telephoto lens is its weight, which can lead to the affliction called ‘heavy camera tremble’. To counter this, we often look for a stable surface to rest the camera on, or we revert to using a tripod in exceptional circumstances. We follow Google’s advice to use a high shutter speed while photographing with the heavy lens to help achieve sharp, blur-free images.
We also use our Samsung Android phone cameras when we can get close enough—a practice avoided by most professional birders—we’re constantly advised.
Some good fieldcraft will help. Often, when we are about to take a photo, the bird will decide to fly. We have found that often the bird is the first to observe our presence, as we are usually the intruders. The bird may give an alarm call or start telling us to ‘get lost’ in loud calls and chatter. They usually stop singing or chirping and hesitantly continue again when we move away. If we use binoculars, we often notice that the bird’s eyes observe our every step.
We try to avoid total bird-centric images; the habitat is equally important, as are other species of birds, animals or plants that share their habitats.
Sometimes, a photo is too good to be deleted. We occasionally use photo-shopping skills to create visually appealing photos. We use the PC Windows 11[ii] image editor to rescue images that were spoiled by poor lighting, such as the image of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Yellow Tailed Cockatoo—Tasmania, West Coast.
Sometimes, when we set out to embrace Photo Ahimsa, we might unexpectedly encounter its opposite—Photo Himsa[iii]. We’ve had our share of Photo Himsa moments while trying to practice Photo Ahimsa. For instance, we’ve faced sunburn, dealt with bug or tick bites, encountered snakes, gotten lost, and walked into thorns. Photo Himsa and Photo Ahimsa often occur together.
You may need to become ‘besties’ with the creepy crawlies. If you’re going to snap photos of birds, it’s best to shake off those fears of spiders, bugs, and whatever else is lurking about. After all, you can’t be mindful while panicking if you see a spider every time, you’re crawling through the bush to get a shot of a kookaburra (Figure 4 below). Embrace the spiders and the bugs and take photos of them too!
Figure 4: Kookaburra in the Bush—High Country, Victoria.
We found that there’s a meaningful difference between birding and birdwatching. We tried birding initially—our first birding outing in Australia was highly embarrassing and a rather clumsy affair. We thought we were well prepared with a pair of ex-army binoculars that could not focus well and a vintage Olympus Trip 35 camera. We approached a bespectacled, grey-haired woman, immaculately dressed in birding garb, surrounded by similarly dressed people all peering through enormous binoculars into the top branches of a giant red-gum tree. She was setting up a very impressive 35mm SLR Leica M camera.
Jim asked rather timidly while she adjusted the tripod. ‘Are you all here to birdwatch?’ ‘Quiet, man, be quiet!’ The woman hissed. She then whispered curtly, ‘No. We’re here to bird.’ We knew then that birding was a more serious business than we had bargained for (Figure 5 below).
Figure 5: Birding vs. Birdwatching
Birders, we realised, are more serious versions of birdwatchers. They actively, sometimes even compulsively, pursue birds; they are in it for the chase. The birder will think nothing of hopping into a car and driving many hours to see an extremely rare, helmeted honeyeater[iv], for example. Julia Zarankin[v] says: ‘In a sense, birding is about the human impulse to hunt, but without the blood!’
We soon discovered that we were not the birding type; Jim’s attention to detail skills did not cut mustard, and Dedrie has a high-frequency range hearing loss and has never heard a bird call. So, our birding reverted to birdwatching—the more passive, less serious pursuit.
[i] Wikipedia contributors. (2025, March 29). John Burroughs. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burroughs.
[ii] Microsoft. (2021). Windows 11 (Version 22H2) [Computer software]. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11.
[iii] Himsa: Violence.
[iv] Wikipedia contributors. (2024, November 20). Helmeted honeyeater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmeted_honeyeater#/media/File:Captively_bred_Helmeted_Honeyeater_at_the_Healesville_Sanctuary_in_Healesville,_Victoria,_Australia.jpg
[v] Julia Zarankin. (April 16, 2013). Birding vs. Birdwatching. Ontario Nature @ Centre for Social Innovation. ON Nature magazine and our blog. info@ontarionature.org.
[vi] Wikipedia contributors. (2024, November 20). Helmeted honeyeater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmeted_honeyeater#/media/File:Captively_bred_Helmeted_Honeyeater_at_the_Healesville_Sanctuary_in_Healesville,_Victoria,_Australia.jpg