Collateral Damage

When all set in a bird-hide or when you’ve taken a cover position somewhere else in nature this probably will occur.  Only when you’re very quiet of course. Most bird photographers will recognize these occasions. All of a sudden other guests may show up at your planned photoshoot.

These are moments I really start questioning myself, whether I should stick to just birds. Take the Squirrels, for instance, such beautiful creatures. I love watching them, how they manoeuvre between the present birds. A Roe Deer in the field in the early morning lights, what’s more beautiful?  And then there’s the rats, the mice and other Rodents, just beautiful.
The one thing that strikes me most in those situations… No animal is aggressive to another animal. They all sort of live in peaceful harmony. And it always makes me wonder, how is it possible such different creatures all get along just fine? But we, the human race, looking all quite similar, we always have to fight and make problems for each other.

It does provide a nice change of scenery though. No matter how much I love Birds there’s always room on my Harddisks for other animals. That’s why I call it Collateral Damage. It‘s impossible not to capture all these beautiful creatures and therefore you’ll have a lot of extra work in the post-processing. Something, I can really do without.   

What is your most precious sighting while shooting birds?