Knowing the animal

Learning goal

You will be able to explain how knowing a wild animal's day, its habits and the signs that announce its next move before photographing it prepares the frame in advance. You will draw the hours when a species feeds, rests and is active from a field guide, from experienced observers and from your own notes, and go into the field at those hours. You will recognize the small movements a bird makes before taking off and be ready on the shutter button, and use the direction of the wind to predict the direction of takeoff. You will gather your observations in a notebook kept in the field, and know the animal a little better on every return. When learning from a farmer or a fisherman who has known the animals for years, you will credit their knowledge and photograph them in the low morning light, with their skin in its own color.

The question

Your friend waits three hours on the lakeshore at noon with the rented long lens. The reeds are silent; a few ducks doze in the distance, the heron is nowhere to be seen. They go home empty-handed. In the evening the birdwatcher at the club smiles at them: the heron hunts every morning at sunrise at the north end of the shore, in shallow water, and at noon it withdraws to the trees. The ducks, too, spend the noon hours resting. Your friend realizes they were trying to photograph the bird without knowing at all what it does. Why does a good photo start with biology?

Context

In wildlife ethics you learned to read from its behavior that an animal is disturbed and to stop before reaching its flight distance (Lesson Y.1). In the method of the masters who catch the moment, you saw standing in a place where the light and the shapes are right and waiting for the event that will complete the scene (Lesson 26.2). In project planning you also set up gathering a project's observations, shooting notes and access information in a notebook (Lesson 23.4).

In wildlife, waiting gains meaning when you know what will happen, where and when. A photographer who knows an animal's behavior sees the frame in advance: which branch the bird will take off from, which direction it will fly in, where the light will come from at that moment. One who doesn't know only waits on luck. This lesson takes up the way of knowing an animal not for the photo, but first for itself.

Simple explanation

How does the animal's day go?

A daily activity pattern is the order an animal follows during the day between feeding, resting, preening, bathing and moving. Many birds are most active in the first hours of the morning and at the end of the afternoon; in the noon heat they withdraw into shade and rest. Many mammals, too, become active at twilight, at dawn and close to nightfall. On shores, water birds follow the mudflats opened by the tide or by the water level. This pattern differs from species to species and from season to season.

Knowing the pattern lets you go into the field at the right hour. A bird that comes to feed in the morning appears in a low, warm light, active and with its attention on food. A bird resting in the harsh noon light, on the other hand, often stays a ball with its eyes closed in the shade of a branch. Noticing that a bird uses the same shallow water, the same branch or the same piece of shore every morning is the first step in setting up the frame in advance for the light and the background.

What does a bird do before it takes off?

Precursor behavior is the small behavior an animal makes just before a movement that announces that movement. Many birds, before taking off, crouch slightly, lean forward, hold their wings a little away from the body or lighten themselves by releasing their droppings. A photographer who sees these signs puts their finger on the shutter button and doesn't miss the takeoff. A mammal pricking its ears in one direction, listening to a sound or looking at a place also tells the direction of its next movement.

The wind helps too. Birds often take off into the wind and land into the wind, because the air coming from ahead gives them more lift for less speed. If you put the wind at your back and turn your face to the bird, the bird that takes off often passes toward you or beside you. This makes possible a frame with the wings open and the face turned to you. Taking the direction of the light into the same calculation lets you catch a moment when both the bird's face and its wings are lit.

Where does the knowledge come from?

A field guide is an illustrated reference book or app that describes species, telling about their appearance, their calls, their habitats and their behavior. Learning a bird's name and habits tells you where and when to look for it. Local birdwatching groups, experienced observers and the people who live and work there give local knowledge a guide can't give: which shore the heron of this lake comes down to every morning, which week the storks come to the field.

Writing your own observations in a notebook in the field builds up this knowledge: date, hour, weather, wind, which species, what it was doing, where it went. A few weeks of notes show a pattern. If you learned the knowledge from a farmer or a fisherman, crediting their name or their contribution and, if they wish, photographing them too is a thank-you. The low, warm morning light lights one side of their face; on light skin this light can redden the cheeks, while on dark skin it leaves warm highlights and deep shadows. Making the exposure for the lit side keeps both in their own color.

Visual evidence

The next morning your friend goes to the north end of the shore before sunrise. The wind blows from the east, from the direction where the sun will rise; putting their back to both the wind and the sun, they sit behind a rock facing the shore. In the shallow water the heron walks step by step, its head bent.

They watch for twenty minutes. Twice the bird dips its beak into the water; on the next, it straightens up with a fish, the light striking the scales in its beak. A few minutes later the bird crouches and leans forward. Your friend presses the shutter button: the heron takes off into the wind, opening its wings toward them; the undersides of the wings lit in the morning light.

On the way back, an old farmer working in the field at the edge of the lake, a dark-skinned man, tells them that the storks come behind the plow every year. Your friend writes it in the notebook, then asks his permission and photographs him while the morning sun strikes one side of his face; they make the exposure for the lit cheek, his skin warm and detailed.

Common mistakes

Summary

A good wildlife photo starts with biology, because a photographer who knows the animal's daily activity pattern, the places it often uses and the precursor behaviors that announce a movement sees the frame in advance and waits at the right hour, in the right place, taking the wind and the light into account. This knowledge comes from field guides, experienced observers, the people who live with that nature and notes kept in the field; the person who shares the knowledge is credited and, if they wish, photographed with their skin in its own color.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will get to know a species over a week.

1. Choose a bird species you can see regularly near you, and learn its feeding, resting and active hours from a field guide or an observer.
2. Over a week, go at least three times at different hours and each time write in the notebook the hour, the weather, the wind and what the bird was doing.
3. When you find a pattern in your notes, wait at that hour with the wind at your back; try to catch the behavior before takeoff.

Check yourself

• Were you able to draw from your notes the hour when the bird is most active?
• Did you notice a precursor behavior before takeoff?
• In the frame, does the animal appear doing something, or only standing?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. At which hours of the day are many birds most active?

• A) At the hottest hour of noon
• B) In the first hours of the morning and at the end of the afternoon
• C) Only at night
• D) Equally at every hour

2. Which one is a behavior before takeoff?

• A) The bird closing its eyes and dozing
• B) The bird fluffing its feathers and resting
• C) The bird standing on one leg
• D) The bird crouching and leaning forward

3. In which direction do birds often take off?

• A) Into the wind
• B) In the same direction as the wind
• C) Always to the south
• D) Always away from the photographer

4. Why are notes kept in the field useful?

• A) Because they change the camera's settings by themselves
• B) Because they call the birds
• C) Because in a few weeks they bring out a pattern showing the animal's hours and places
• D) Because they make sharing the location easier

Answers

1. B — Many birds feed in the morning and late afternoon and rest in the shade in the noon heat.
2. D — Crouching and leaning forward are a preparation seen just before opening the wings.
3. A — Wind blowing from ahead gives the bird more lift for less speed.
4. C — As notes of date, hour, weather and behavior build up, the repeating order becomes visible.

Summary card

• First know the animal, then photograph it.
• Learn the daily activity pattern: morning and late afternoon are often the most active hours.
• Watch for precursor behavior: crouching, leaning forward, the direction of the ears.
• Put the wind at your back; a bird often takes off into the wind.
• Guide, observer, local people and notebook; credit the one who gives the knowledge and, if they wish, photograph them, metering the light for their face.

Bridge to the next lesson

Your friend now knows the heron's hour and place, but the same thing happens every morning: as soon as the bird sees them on the shore, it moves a few steps away and turns its back. Even sitting behind the rock is no longer enough after a while. How do you become invisible? The next lesson takes up how a hide, camouflage and being able to sit for hours in one place without moving let the animal stay as it is.