WWT noise in hides ?

Gremlin

Gremlin

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Just read the members magazine from the WWT and it seems someone has complained about camera shutter noise in the bird hides disturbing the birds and why can't we silence them:LOL:
Someone has explained about SLRs and it being mirros etc.
But does anyone else find that the birds aren't really that affected by it, they seem to take no notice :shrug:
I use public hides in various places and have never found it a problem
 
They talk about you after you've left! :LOL:
 
admirable said:
They talk about you after you've left! :LOL:
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As long as they pose for the pictures and don't fly off when I click the shutter they can chirp all they like when I've gone (y)
 
I've never seen birds leave due to camera noise, but when mum and dad turn up with their rug rats and start shouting and it's SShhhh from mum and dad, thats when I usually leave.
 
There are loads of anti-photographer threads on the net. Most of which are from people who know little,if anything about photography,yet know enough(in their own minds) to form an opinion that is totally wrong or exaggerated. Recently on 'bird forum' in an argument regarding getting close to your subject,the anti-togger stated that,and I quote, "we have lenses big enough to get a shot of the footprints on the moon", I kid you not. Statements like this just go to show how naive some people are,yet they can criticize someone else who probably could show them a thing or two regarding fieldcraft and getting close to their subject.
Maybe people who throw stones should not live in glass houses.
 
I loathe the types who think i`m interested in their ailments or their life history. I also cringe every time I hear the auto focus acquired beep some photographers feel is necessary.

Semi rant over.
 
fracster said:
. I also cringe every time I hear the auto focus acquired beep some photographers feel is necessary.
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I totally agree with that, I have a little geen light in the view finder that tells me, dont need an annoying beep. (y)
 
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Gremlin said:
I totaslly agree with that, I have a little geen light in the view finder that tells me, dont need an annoying beep. (y)
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I don't have a little green light in my view finder, I need an annoying beep (y)

I do however turn it off if I feel it may affect others.
 
I must admit I was sat in a hide at Loch of the Lowes with a lovely old couple who I'd been chatting to very quietly for 15 mins or so. They had no camera but were obviously enjoying watching a few birds through their binoculas and discussing what they were watching in a hushed voice.

Suddenly (it was what I'd been waiting for) the female Osprey flew down from her nest to wash her feet in the loch and I must admit (and it's unlike me) I did let rip with a 1D2.

Perhaps it was the way I had the QR plate rested on the hide window sill but it seemed to amplify through the wooden structure to create some kind of biblical thunder.

Feeling quite pleased with myself after a very quick chimp - I turned to them and saw the look of horror on their faces. A look which convinced me I was holding a smoking AK47 rather than a camera.

Perhaps it was because they were elderly and so nice but I suddenly felt like a right hooligan LOL
 
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rob-nikon said:
What's your opinion of people "machine gunning" when taking a images of static birds? I can understand with moving birds but it always makes me chuckle.
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Can't really see the point of it anyway, only for some fast moving things and even then I rarely use it
Must fill up their hardrives very quickly :LOL:
 
dinners said:
Perhaps it was the way I had the QR plate rested on the hide window sill but it seemed to amplify through the wooden structure to create some kind of biblical thunder.

Feeling quite pleased with myself after a very quick chimp - I turned to them and saw the look of horror on their faces. A look which convinced me I was holding a smoking AK47 rather than a camera.

Perhaps it was because they were elderly and so nice but I suddenly felt like a right hooligan LOL
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But did it scare the bird :shrug:
 
I read the same article. I think it more goes down to etiquette and behaviour. Perhaps there should be polite notices explaining proper behaviour as well as the bird identification.
 
Ah the age old battle between Twitchers & Photographers :LOL:

I've come across many people in the hides I use, that have objected to the sound of my shutter :wacky: mostly whilst they were chattering away or engaged in chewing on a bag of crisps :LOL:

Whilst I accept the need to be quiet whilst in a hide, there is little I could do to prevent the noise made by my camera, I never use the audi auto focus, as said a green light in the viewfinder is more than adequate.


Live an let live is my motto, If I offend someone by using my camera then I'll appologise, yet still explain I have No control over that :shrug:

Never in my time have I disturbed a bird by the shutter noise, moevement is more likely to distub them (y)

Les
 
mex said:
There are loads of anti-<snip> threads on the net. Most of which are from people who know little,if anything about photography,yet know enough(in their own minds) to form an opinion that is totally wrong or exaggerated.<snip>
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Snipped and edited, as to be frank the internet (and life in general to be fair) is full of people who are willing to hold forth against almost any given subject, sure in the knowledge that they are 100% correct. As a cyclist, this is something I encounter frequently :shrug:


Back on topic, I've frequently used the same hide both with and without a camera. I've never noticed a difference in bird behaviour.
 
Nothing to do with the birds in my opinion. Those complaining don't like the sound of the shutter themselves. Using "it will scare the birds" is a nice cover that they believe gives them the moral high ground.

Yes, it is really good in a quiet hide, but I don't find it objectionable if there is some noise - shutters, people talking, eating etc.

Perhaps it is the reserves/hides I've been to, but the birds are so far away there is no chance of of them being scared by the sound of a shutter.

Dave
 
I think the camera sticking out a hide window and then moving towards a bird etc has more chance of scaring them and has done in several hides i have been in.I have also seen birds react to shutter noise from a camera but only when really close. Woodpeckers are very easily spooked by camera shutter noise but will often return when they know food is available.
 
Yes lenses do seem to make them wary but not always take flight if the hides are well used
Was down at Arundel today and couldn't hear the shutter because of torrential rain, was stuck in the Ramsar Hide for ages while it rained thundered and lightening :eek:
Then I managed to knck the lens hood off and fell in front of the hide, luckily I saw an employee whilst walking back, she told me to ask at reception and one of the groundsmen would get it back.
I got the head groundsman to walk back with me, told me they find a lot of photgraphic stuff in front of the hides where people drop them and don't ask anyone, so if you are unlucky enough to do it, remember you can get it back (y)
 
Must admit i would like to turn off the shutter noise when im in a hide or near a bird, im sure it could be done. Tolerance of others is something thats in short supply these days.
 
If it helps those who feel guilty about the minor noise of a shutter and a mirror flipping up and down, last weekend I spent a whole day watching a pair of rusty brown backed raptors with grey tails (see I'm so fick I don't even know what they are) flying to and fro feeding a nest of very noisy fledglings which made such a racket every time a parent hove into view. I was actually supervising a rifle range which was banging away at paper targets about forty feet below the birds. Whether we were shooting or not shooting the behaviour of the birds was exactly the same.

Some people subscribe to the view that the countryside is a silent place.
 
I was in a hide the other day with some other togs but I didn't find their kit annoying in anyway, even when they fired a few shots in a few seconds.

What was annoying was the other 'birders' who literally called out "there it is" when the bird we were all waiting for came into sight and then proceeded to p off because it heard someone shouting!

When said bird came back and stayed for a few minutes, between the 4 togs there must have been close on 100 shots taken (I know I shot around 20 in a 3-4min time span) and the bird hopped around calmly looking for dinner.

As has been said, I've never seen a bird scared off from a shutter noise.
 
braveboy2012 said:
As has been said, I've never seen a bird scared off from a shutter noise.
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This little fellow was about 3m away and didn't seem at all disturbed by the noise of my 50D's shutter.

SnowBunting.jpg
 
I have found they get used to the noise of the camera quite quickly
I have set up in the garden quite close to the birds and first couple of times they flew off but after a couple of days they were not bothered by the noise:)
 
I have found that,waders in particular,sometimes seem attracted to the shutter click.
 
Had a situation with someone complaining about my D300 while watching barn owls once.

When I explained that their hearing is most sensitive in the 6-9khz range, as that's mainly how they detect their prey, and the shutter is no more likely to disturb the owl than the human bodily functions that could also be heard - the idiot twitcher shut up.

Some bird watchers are knowledgeable and a pleasure to talk to. Most are plebs.
 
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mex said:
I have found that,waders in particular,sometimes seem attracted to the shutter click.
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I've noticed this. I had a Ringed Plover move closer to me everytime I clicked, then it would pause until the next click & then closer still. Eventually it lost it's nerve & legged it!

Lez325 said:
They must like having their photos taken :LOL:

Les :D
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They're always ready for their "close up" (y)
 
Comfortably Numb said:
I've noticed this. I had a Ringed Plover move closer to me everytime I clicked, then it would pause until the next click & then closer still. Eventually it lost it's nerve & legged it!



They're always ready for their "close up" (y)
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Then there is the other side when a large red deer stag attacked me in North Uist last year because his hinds were alerted to my shutter....:wacky:
 
I've sat in a few hides in my time and thankfully have never had anyone complain about my shutter noise. I've not noticed any birds disappear because of the noise either.

Kids running around, teenagers being bored and adults chatting are far more annoying to the people in the hide. But I don't even think the racket of two six year olds having a full on fight affects most birds. I think noise without a visual reference doesn't affect birds too much.
 
I tend to put my canon onto soft release. I never have the focus cofirmation beep activated and if i do ' machine gun then i have it set to a max burst of about 5. It is only used for very fast moving objects it is otherwise completely unnecessary. In fact i rarely use it at all. Shutter noise can be irritating but i agree that in my experience only to birders, not birds. Most of the real birders i know, and by that i mean really dedicated people who really put in time and know a great deal about birds sit in the hides and chat at all the time AND notice everything going on..The complainers are often 'part timers' who have a more precious rather than down to earth attitude to bird watching with somewhat unrealistic perceptions. Birds around hides are often habitutaed to the noises and take no notice whatever.
 
For what it's worth a couple of days ago I banged of a few shots of Swallows INSIDE the hide I was using. There was nothing outside so I had to try something. I was using a tripod mounted 600mm at just over 5.5 meters (MFD), at 9 fps and silly ISO. The racket was downright rude! The only occupants that were NOT surprised were the Swallows! They didn't even do me the courtesy of looking to see what the noise was.
When I moved to a Canon 1 series I was concerned about the racket they make, as have been a number of other humans - wildlife, almost invariably, ignore it - though Deer sometimes to look straight at you (for some nice portraits) but do not seem in the least concerned!
If you really want to put wildlife off then move about or put on some aftershave/perfume!
 
You could always ask the complainer if they have any wildlife books or magazines and if they enjoyed looking at the published photographs!

I doubt there are many twitchers that have not benefitted in some way from photographed birds.

Chris
 
Hi, i usually spend betweem 8 and 1o hours at a time in a hide i visit regular,their are times when i am alone and times when it's full of children ,and in my opinion noise is not the issue ,a recent ocassion were the woodpecker was visiting regular is a good example ,loads of shutter clicks ,children shouting were, were and still the woodpecker stayed ,that is untill a grandmother of one of the children decided to lunge her arm out of the hide and continued to wave it around shouting it's there ,it's there and yes just as she did it it was off......yes loud shutter clicks can be intrusive but i dont think affects the subject ,sudden movement as always scared my subject off more than a camera clicking away.
 
I'm with you Den, all children should be banned from hides or better still all nature reserves :LOL:
NOT A BAD IDEA ACTUALLY :thinking:
 
Neil B said:
I'm with you Den, all children should be banned from hides or better still all nature reserves :LOL:
NOT A BAD IDEA ACTUALLY :thinking:
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Then how is the next generation ever going to grow up with an appreciation about wildlife and protecting it? :shake:

I agree that badly behaved children AND their parents should be asked to quiet down sometimes. My parents are keen birders and took my brother and I along from us being only months old. Of course we used to talk and such but we were always told by our parents to keep it down as other people are watching the birds. Therefore we grew up knowing how to act in these situations. If we had been told by a lot of grumpy birders to ****** off then I doubt I would ever have retained any interest in wildlife.

It's all about respect and general good manners (from both sides). (y)
 
EMA747 said:
Then how is the next generation ever going to grow up with an appreciation about wildlife and protecting it? :shake:

I agree that badly behaved children AND their parents should be asked to quiet down sometimes. My parents are keen birders and took my brother and I along from us being only months old. Of course we used to talk and such but we were always told by our parents to keep it down as other people are watching the birds. Therefore we grew up knowing how to act in these situations. If we had been told by a lot of grumpy birders to ****** off then I doubt I would ever have retained any interest in wildlife.

It's all about respect and general good manners (from both sides). (y)
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I hope they used to take a dog without a lead and let it crap and not pick it up, also a mobile phone is always a pleasure to hear as well.
If someone is sat quietly minding their own business and you start to disturb them, that makes them grumpy in your opinion, doesn't sound like respect to me :wacky:
 
The only mobile phones I have heard in bird hides have been birders getting updates of some rare bird, talking loudly about it on the phone then hurriedly and noisily packing up all their gear and off in a rush.

I meant that some (a pretty small minority) of birders just seem be grumpy without anyone doing anything to upset them. As I said it's a small minority but you can't deny some are like that.

I am talking here about a public reserve where you do not have to pay to be on the reserve or in the hides. Families are encouraged as it's nearish the city and they are trying to promote wildlife to everyone.
 
As long as your not taking up loads of space,sitting there all day in a busy hide or making lots of noise. I'm not to fussed if your a tog or a birder.
 
never been in a hide since I was a kid (washington wildfowl trust) but I do hate the noise my camera makes :(

in my garden the birds have got a little bit used to my camera now, and most of them just look at me when the shutter goes, but quite a few still get spooked and fly off :(
 
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