Photographing Nature – Nesting Birds

One of the greatest challenges in nature and particularly bird photography is collecting images of hatchlings as they grow to adulthood. Documenting the incredible stories of baby birds in a with a nesting box camera as the parents look them after until they can fly the nest can be exhilarating and bring a genuine tear to the eye.

However, as more and more people get interested in nature photography -mainly because of the surge in use of digital cameras - means its worth stipulating the danger this type of bird watching can pose to wildlife.

Nesting birds are notoriously nervous. Not only is it all to easy to scare a mother away from her eggs or chicks, some species may cannibalise their young once disturbed. So in attempting any type of this photography it is important to ensure the nesting birds are never disturbed.

By far the best method is to use a camera-nesting box. These are similar to conventional nesting boxes but have a 'secret' hidden camera compartment, normally tucked away in the roof of the bird box.

Whilst some people opt to make their own, there are several multi-species camera nesting boxes on the market equipped with cameras that not only take crisp images of the nesting birds but also take the pictures without any sound or distraction in the nesting box.

If you do choose to make your own camera nesting box or buy a camera nesting box and use your own photography equipments its important to remember to ensure the camera is not only silent (a shutter can sound extremely loud close up to a nesting hatchling) but that obviously the flash is off.

If using conventional equipment it may be difficult to get an image in the dark confines of the nesting box if you have no night vision facilities on your camera. Making use of natural light by carefully adding slits to the box (while its still empty) may help as can setting up a permanent light. This has to be installed to create a dim glow in the box only and the bulb out of the way of the birds. Any power facility such as battery must be replaceable without sudden change of light in the box or any disturbance.

This is where many of the manufactured camera nesting boxes have the advantage in that the equipment is designed specifically for this type of work where the camera compartment is completely separate and designed with the ability to set the optimum/sensitive to ensure crisp images.