Page 36 - Creature Companion October Edition
P. 36

BIRDWATCHING
























         HOW TO



         BE A GOOD



         BIRDWATCHER?



         By Asif Raja Khan*





               owadays, bird photography                                     Few years ago, when I got a DSLR
               is a trendy passion among           MANY BIRD                 and a telephoto lens, just like
         Npeople all over the world.           PHOTOGRAPHERS                 other amateurs, I wanted to be a
         Pocket  friendly  DSLRs,  jumbo      CREATE ARTIFICIAL              professional wildlife photographer.
         telephoto lenses, and exposure on    ENVIRONMENT FOR                That time, I was a student, didn’t
         different social media platforms are                                have enough money to do safaris

         increasingly influencing people from   ‘PERFECT SHOTS’.              in forests, so I chose birds as my
         different  fields to adopt this hobby.   SOME OF THEM                wildlife subject. I spent a lot of time

         Some of them are Engineers, some of  INTENTIONALLY SCARE            with my camera, trying to learn
         them are Doctors, some of them are    BIRDS FOR FLIGHT              everything, every technique of my
         teachers, government employees etc.   SHOTS, SOME PEOPLE            new toy. Honestly speaking, that
         Every hobby, passion or addiction has   GIVE FOOD TO WILD           time, Birds were just some colorful
         its positive and negative side both.   BIRDS, MAKE FALSE            subjects for me. I had no basic
         Of course, bird photography is not                                  knowledge about Ecology, Ethology
         an exception. Because of this hobby,   BIRD CALLS IN FIELDS         or conservation.
         people from different  fi elds  come   TO FIND BIRDS EASILY.
         close to nature and become more                                     During my graduation and post-
         aware about wildlife conservation,   Obscure knowledge about ecology,   graduation in Zoology and Life
         importance of a tree, a wetland, and   wildlife, bird behaviour, and blindly   Sciences with Ecology specialization,
         a forest.                         running behind the ‘perfect shot’   I understood the actual difference
                                           without any basic knowledge about   between bird photography and bird
         But amateur bird photography also   ecosystem and habitat has nowadays   watching. Then I devoted more of my
         has some dark ‘behind the scenes’.   become a threat for wildlife.  time in reading books than in taking

     36  Creature Companion | OCTOBER 2020 • VOL. XIII • ISSUE 9 • NOIDA
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