Gaining Special Knowledge Leads to Success
How to get rewarding images of birds by learning more about them
Bill Harris
June 15, 2024
Note: This tip comes from page 4 in Tobie Schalkwyk’s free eBook - Bird Photography: Knowing Your Subjects
In the photography world, bird photography is one of the few genres that really requires a deep knowledge of the subject.
Sure, you can capture bird photos without knowing anything, but it will be random luck, and your satisfaction with the result will be much less. Inevitably, when showing off your effort, someone will ask what kind of bird it is or what the bird is doing and why.
Let’s examine one aspect of bird life: feeding.
An image of a feeding bird is just so much more able to evoke emotions from your viewers. A tiny bird with a worm in its beak will always lead to “aawwws” and “aaaaahs” from whoever looks at it.
A raptor with another bird in its claws, still fighting for its life, will always elicit a similar response from the same audience. In short, it is just so much more rewarding to capture and display than another portrait seen a thousand times before.
Learning the feeding habits of your bird subjects will make you a next-level bird photographer.
Here are a few examples to get you started.
Photograph by Olivier Depaep – A kingfisher sits on a perch watching for prey in the pond below.
Tip #1 - If you see a kingfisher on a perch above the water or a cormorant swimming, just be patient and keep watching it! It is certainly on the watch/hunt for food, and it’s only a matter of time before you see some action!
Photograph by Robert Thiemann – Schalkwyk trained his camera on this cormorant as it swam before him. When the bird found dinner, he was ready!
Tip #2 - Some birds, like kingfishers, bee-eaters, and shrikes, return to the same spot after catching prey or locating food, offering multiple shooting opportunities.
Tip #3 - Most fish-eating birds prefer to kill their prey before swallowing it. This is for safety reasons and to ease the swallowing process. Therefore, this habit provides you with more time to capture them.
Photograph by Mathew Schwartz: - This osprey carries its prey back to a perch, where it will kill it and eat it headfirst to prevent the fish scales from catching in the throat.
Tip #4 - Raptors, like secretary birds, marabou storks, and ground hornbills, walk through grasses for only one reason: they hunt reptiles and snakes! If you’re patient enough, you will be rewarded with beautiful images.
Photograph by Hans Veth – This Ground Hornbill is hunting for snakes in the tall grass.
Tip #5—Kites hovering in one place are on the hunt. After catching prey, they look for a tree close by to rip it apart and eat it.
Photograph by Bob Brewer – This kite is hovering while spotting prey for its next meal.
Tip #6 - Smaller raptors watching larger ones while they are having a meal are most likely planning a steal! Keep watching, and keep your camera ready!
Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)