I'm loving this forum so far....seeing a volatile topic like this responded to with thoughtful responses is refreshing.
Personally I've no problem with feeding or using an ipod to call up birds--within the limits of reason of course (not calling them off nests, or where it's prohibited, etc.)
There certainly is such a thing as caring about the shot at the cost of the subject. One of the local Orange Country photographers found out recently that infringing on federally protected nesting areas is a very bad idea. The joker was fond of putting on a wetsuit and running around the Bolsa Chica wetlands. One day he got the brilliant idea that it'd be cool to swim into the nesting preserve for the (near endangered) elegant terns---what a fool.
Per the Huntington Beach Independant:
"Officials say Huntington Beach resident Charles Michael Harris, 40, broke rules and swam
out to an island full of nesting elegant terns to get a better shot with his camera. Now Harris,
described by officials as a photographer working on a book, has been charged with seven
misdemeanor counts of violating environmental laws.
There are usually 400 or 500 pairs of elegant terns hatching their eggs out on a small island
in the wetlands each summer, said Jeff Stoddard, a wildlife biologist with the California
Department of Fish and Game. But when faced with a human incursion, they nearly all flew
off and let their eggs die in the cold.
“A lot of the birds were flying the whole time when the guy came out,” Stoddard said.
“It was cold weather. The birds were out there some time, and the eggs just kind of died.
There were gulls just walking through the colony eating the eggs.”
It’s against the law to go out to protected habitat like that, Stoddard added. When a scientific
aide noticed birds circling, the agency sent a warden in."
I've made a note of the guys name, and if he ever publishes anything I intend to dog him and do everything I can to see that no image he produces ever sells or wins an award.