how to
photograph
wild birds

The Notsuke Peninsula is a well-known breeding area for the Common Redshank. Since it has the custom of singing from a conspicuous place, I aimed to get a shot of it perched on some Angelica flowers, and I looked for a spot where it would be easy to photograph. This time, since the Common Redshank was resting on the top of a wooden fence post and not flowers, I moved around while shooting, trying different angles as I went. I found a spot with a view of some trees in the background, and by positioning the shot vertically, I was able to get the Angelica flowers in the bottom of the frame. In this shot, I was able to capture the natural landscape of the Notsuke Peninsula.

I found a flock of Eurasian Oystercatchers on the seashore in Mie Prefecture, and slowly crept closer. In my first shot, I cropped the top and made it horizontally long, really emphasizing the flock of Oystercatchers. I had already decided to blow it up and thought I would trim it in a way. I got the shot I expected, but when I took another one, I got the big crane, at the port, in the background, which is a typical scene in Mie Prefecture. It’s difficult to know what to include in the frame and what to exclude, so it was a happy accident that I got a photograph showing a distinctive feature of the area.

This photo was taken on Ishigaki Island. I found a Malayan Night Heron in an open space on the edge of a park. At first, I was aiming to get a close-up shot from the car. But since the bird didn’t seem very alarmed by my presence, I got out of the car from the opposite side and quietly moved towards it while shooting with a telephoto lens. To get as much of the surrounding scenery in as possible, I took the shot with a focal length of 100mm on a 100-400mm telephoto lens. I was able to capture some Chinese Banyan trees and the subtropical environment of the island.

I was looking for birds as I was passing by rice fields while driving on Ishigaki Island in spring. It’s my daily routine, but since I get to see such a variety of birds, I don’t get tired of it. This day too I found a Wood Sandpiper standing at the side of a young rice field. I aimed to get a shot of the bird with its reflection on the water and soft backlight. Noticing the reflection of the bird on the water, I composed the shot to get it the frame. This time I included the flowers on the right side as an accent as well.

I was in the midst of shooting an Osprey in a dive scene when one landed in the shoals and began taking a bath. At first, I took some horizontal shots of the bird bathing from the top of the embankment. Then I noticed something and quickly came down to the water’s edge. When I took a low-angle vertical shot, I was able to get the blue gradation of the water’s surface into the line of trees behind and the mountains in the far background. More often than not, when I move even a little the Osprey will fly off, but with an 800mm super telephoto lens and a long distance between us, I was able to finish shooting without alarming it.

As I was driving near Kushiro Marsh, I found a pair of Red-crowned Cranes in a snow-covered pasture. At first, I was photographing them from inside the car, since they were not alarmed. I quickly got out, put om my 17-40mm ultra-wide zoom lens and moved closer while shooting. I included a wide piece of sky so I could express a blue and white perspective of the world. Since Red-crowned Cranes are large birds, I was able to take the wide-angle shot with a 17mm focal length and still maintain the presence of the birds.

When drift ice comes to the sea at Rausu, the eagle comes along with it. Thanks to the drift ice, the waves become calm. This is not a composite photograph. The secret is that the color of the sea is the reflection of the background. You are probably wondering why it‘s this color. Actually, it’s the reddish glow of the sun rising from Kunashiri Island coloring the snowcapped mountains of the Shiretoko Peninsula. When I spotted a Steller’s Sea Eagle resting on top of a broken piece of drift ice within this reflected scene, I positioned it in a calm spot and took the shot.

For the male Rock Ptarmigan, early summer is the busiest season. He watches over his territory from a conspicuous spot. The Rock Ptarmigans of Tateyama are not in danger from humans, because they live at high mountain area. So they do not become alarmed easily, enabling you to photograph them from a relatively close position. I set up this shot to include the surrounding scenery. However, some birds are very wary and will not let you get close to them. If I see even the slightest bit of apprehension, I stop trying to get close.

When I heard the cherry blossoms came out, I headed to Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo’s Ueno Park. There may be some who are surprised that you can photograph wild birds in a big city, but actually there are many wild birds unafraid of humans in such urban oases. That day I went out mainly to photograph cherry blossoms and some ducks, but I caught sight of a Grey Heron standing in the pond. I noticed the soft pink blossoms coloring the water’s surface and selected a spot where I could include some cherry blossoms in the background of the shot.

A Barn Swallow chick rests on top of a lotus leaf. I was surprised to see how well it was perched on top of the thin leaf, but seeing it there made me appreciate how light the Barn Swallow really is. Since I always want a photo in a beautiful place, I quietly moved to a position where the bird overlapped the lotus flowers, all the while silently praying that it wouldn’t fly away.

In the pond, there was a beautiful partially sunken tree that was completely covered in moss. The fresh greenery of the forest reflecting in the still water was so beautiful, and I was hoping somehow a bird might come and stay for a bit. Sometimes such hopes come true, and this time a Grey Wagtail came and sat on the bottom edge of the protruding tree, creating a ripple.

When I went to the roost of an Ural Owl one morning as it stopped snowing, a beautiful world with gently snow-dusted tree branches greeted me. First, I was aiming to get some close-up shots of the owl in super telephoto range, so I took a number of shots while intermittently changing lenses. Since I was shooting with my 50 megapixel full-frame camera, I not only aimed for a photo of the Ural Owl on the branch with a focal length of 100mm on the 100-400mm lens, but also made the background stand out by narrowing the aperture to increase the depth of field.

Around Lake Izunuma a simple apparatus for drying rice straw is set up in rice fields for a short period of time in autumn. During this period, Common Buzzards often come and sit on the top of the posts, using them to take a rest and to stay for hunting. While the tendency to avoid manmade objects in wild bird photography is strong, and many have a predilection for “more natural” shots, you can include distinctive features of a region by photographing birds whose lives cross paths with humans together with scenic objects.

Greater White-fronted Geese gather at Lake Izunuma from fall onward in order to spend the winter there. Their number increases particularly between mid October and the end of November. At night, the geese find a place to bed down on the lake, and when morning breaks they fly off to their feeding grounds with a flapping of wings that sounds something like an explosion. This kind of scene typical in winter draws landscape photographers from all over Japan. I like to photograph flocks of geese filling the rosy sky using various types of lenses.