YOUNG AND OLD BIRDS TOGETHER.
It is at this stage in bird photography that one's troubles really begin. And yet to make one success gives so much satisfaction that the cost of failures is easily forgotten. When the young birds are in their nest they are of course entirely dependent upon their parents for food, and the parents, according to their natural instinct, will usually face almost any danger rather than let their young starve (though some individual birds will never visit their nests in the presence of a person or even a camera). Taking advantage of this well known fact, we can usually count on seeing the old and young together about the nest at frequent intervals during the day, but to see them and photograph them are two very different things. The difficulties are many, so many indeed, that only the enthusiast braves them after the first few attempts. Owing to the constant movement of the birds, both old and young, only the shortest exposure may be given, and as the nests are almost always in shaded places, the result is under-exposure. Once the birds have become accustomed to your presence, they will not be easily frightened, and will allow the use of white cloths as reflectors or even as backgrounds, thus avoiding the splotchy black and white backgrounds that one usually sees in bird pictures. Certain writers advocate moving the nest
containing the young to a well lighted place where instantaneous exposures can be made. This method would lead to the destruction of so much bird life that under no condition should it be done for the mere pleasure of getting pictures, or by persons not thoroughly conversant with the ways of the birds. Rather than risk injuring the birds, accept the situation as it is, and do the best you can, for there can be no satisfaction in securing even really good pictures if it is done at the cost of the lives of the birds. If you intend to give anything over one-tenth of a second's exposure, it is a good plan to make a clicking noise, rather louder than that made by the shutter, for many seconds before making the actual exposure. By this means the birds will become accustomed to the noise and will not be so apt to make a quick movement when the shutter is released.