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[Lance Peters]

This one might create a little discussion - so do read the story first. I would not normally try and get this type of shot always mindful of causing distress to the subject - do not want to have any negative impact!!!!

This black wing stilt had built its nest within 10-20 metres of one of the main access roads at one of my favourite haunts (WTP) As a result there was lots of traffic going past everyday - the road is pretty much 1 car wide in 1 direction - so as I drove round this part of the plant noticed a car stopped up ahead and as I got closer I could see why - now what to do ---- Bird was off the eggs and walking around - so should I get out of the car and talk to the people up front??
Stay in the car and wait??
So the car in front eventually started to move - I grabbed my camera and took two shots out of the window as my car slowly inched forward. (Its hard to drive and take photo's at the same time)

One of which you have here - removed a rock on the LHS - Sharpened a tad - cropped and some level adjustment.

D3S
Sigmonster @600mm
F18
1/320th
400ISO - didnt have time to change
0EV
Aperture Priority
Car window as Brace

Comments welcome.

PS. Chicks did hatch despite all the traffic and fledged.

[Desmond Chan]

the road is pretty much 1 car wide in 1 direction - so as I drove round this part of the plant noticed a car stopped up ahead and as I got closer I could see why - now what to do ---- Bird was off the eggs and walking around - so should I get out of the car and talk to the people up front??
Stay in the car and wait??

I'm not sure what was happening. Are you saying the bird was off the eggs because of the people around? How close were them to the bird and the nest? If you care about the bird and the eggs, then perhaps you could have just reminded the other folks that they should stay farther away from the nest? What else could you do? Could you call any authority so that they perhaps could fence off the area? Otherwise, people who notice the bird and are curious likely would stop their cars and go take a closer look. And since it's a public area, how could you possibly tell everyone who happens to be nearby yourself to stay away from the bird and the eggs? I mean, you "looked", too, right? :) Other than that, well, the bird picked the location. What exactly do you want to do or anyone should do? A couple of years ago we actually had a great blue heron nest right by a tennis court in a park in the downtown area, with condos basically just across the street. They just closed that tennis court and let nature do the rest. Later on, one of the heron chicks died. Since its body was hanging in the tree, people complained and wanted the park to remove it. They said no. They decided to wait until it fell from the tree then they went pick it up. So in your situation I guess the best thing to do is to fence off the area, don't know by whom though :)

[Lance Peters]

I'm not sure what was happening. Are you saying the bird was off the eggs because of the people around? How close were them to the bird and the nest? If you care about the bird and the eggs, then perhaps you could have just reminded the other folks that they should stay farther away from the nest? What else could you do? Could you call any authority so that they perhaps could fence off the area? Otherwise, people who notice the bird and are curious likely would stop their cars and go take a closer look. And since it's a public area, how could you possibly tell everyone who happens to be nearby yourself to stay away from the bird and the eggs? I mean, you "looked", too, right? :) Other than that, well, the bird picked the location. What exactly do you want to do or anyone should do? A couple of years ago we actually had a great blue heron nest right by a tennis court in a park in the downtown area, with condos basically just across the street. They just closed that tennis court and let nature do the rest. So I guess the best thing to do is to fence off the area, don't know by whom though :)

hi Desmond - Yes the bird was off the eggs because people were around - people were on the road still so 8-10m.
WTP - is a sewerage treatment plant - with access to bird watchers by special permit - just unfortunate that this bird built its nest in a high access area - probably not possible for the powers that be to cordone off the area - roads are very very narrow and the area is so large - 10,000 HA.

My feeling was - nothing I could do - took two shots as I went past without stopping - maybe everyone was respectful of the situation - Chicks hatched and fledged.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Interesting. Great photo. I don't think you could, or should do anything. We have black necked stilts, and I assume they have similar behavior, though I can't be sure. I've seen a number of nests, and invariably there is a male, who usually actively, and noisily, does guard duty and the female who takes care of the nest. These are not timid birds, as you might think by just looking at them, and I've seen them attack other birds such as tricolored herons. They will even dive bomb me, though not getting closer than 2o feet or so. The fact that the bird was off the nest is also not uncommon in my experience, with black-necked stilts of course. Often there seems to be interactions between male and female at this time, as well as feeding behavior. The bottom line to me is that the birds are not as defenseless as you might presume, and I wouldn't worry about this scenario.
regards~Bill

[Colin Knight]

Well done Lance, especially while driving! I would like to see what you looked like with your Sigmonster sticking out of the window....

[Deborah Hanson]

For a quick couple of shots - to come up with this is amazing. The details in the whites and in general are really nice. I love the stillness of the water and the reflections.
Where I am located the majority of opportunities for images come from from driving around, assessing the situation, and then hopefully getting a few photos with as little disturbance as possible. As a photographer, it is really hard to drive by without a shot:D.
Nice image.
Deb

[Lance Peters]

Well done Lance, especially while driving! I would like to see what you looked like with your Sigmonster sticking out of the window....

I was driving very very slowly of course - would not recommend the practise on open roads or at speed.
:)

[Bob Miller]

Hi Lance...very very nice image. Image is clean and very sharp...amazing for a quick shot! Congrats!

[Gail Spitler]

Lance - I find this image very stunning in its simplicity. The only suggestion I could offer is that the reflection of the legs that exit at the lower edge of the image seems to pull the eye out of the image.
Very, very nice
Cheers
Gail

[Harold Davis]

my thought on the image....great! nice light and i love the compo with the nest and eggs.

my thoughts on the ethics involved....that bird didnt build the next over night. i'm sure plenty of cars passed by as it worked. then the egg laying. i know it has a bird brain, but i think it could have made a different decision if it were not happy about the location in proximity to the people.

nice work, lance.

[Mark Young]

G'day Lance,

I guess you've done the best you could've in this situation. A couple of shots out the window wouldn't have caused too much stress, if at all. Now if you'ld gotten out of the car then that would've been a different matter.
And I imagine if the bird was really put off people then it wouldn't have laid in that location in the first place as it would've had to deal with people when it was building it's nest.