A recent trip to Vancouver, BC and Vancouver Island resulted in successfully photographing several much sought after species of birds. I managed to photograph Barrow’s Goldeneye, Surf and Black Scoters. These species have been on my wish list for years!

One of the interesting things about Nature Photography are the unique challenges that you are presented with when attempting to photograph wild creatures. Some techniques  for getting close work well for one species, and completely fail on the next. The case in point here were the Black and Surf Scoters that were feeding along the shoreline of Vancouver Island. As you can see from the image below, the birds were coming in fairly close to shore to feed on mussels. The problem was in figuring out a way to get close. The birds had a dense flock of around 30 birds that were near shore, followed by a long string of birds extending out to sea to many more birds a 1/2 km or more offshore. The line was made up of birds traveling to, and from the feeding area. This continuous line of birds coming and going reminded me of the ants that invaded my kitchen one year!

I tried simply walking up to where the birds were feeding, being as discreet as possible, however, they immediately swam out, so that was no good. Another technique I have tried successfully with other duck species, is to stay low and still until the birds dive, then quickly advance, and then stop and get low again before they surface. Many birds are tolerant of this type of approach. The problem with the scoters and their line, was that there always tended to be a few ducks near the feeding zone who would sound the alarm at my approach. So once again, no luck!

The answer to the problem actually came about thanks to an elderly lady who was walking along the beach. I was astonished to see this woman walk right past the scoters without them becoming alarmed. The secret was in her behavior, she wasn’t paying any attention to the ducks, and instead was focussed intently on the ground at her feet looking for something interesting that the tide had brought in overnight. She was also walking quite slowly. In general, I have found when trying to approach a wild animal, it is best to avoid making eye contact(eye contact labels you as a predator).

I decided to imitate her behavior, and gathering up my chair and tripod, I slowly walked down the beach, with my head hung down, looking only at the ground. Viola! Before I knew it , I was opposite the feeding birds. I still didn’t look directly at them and like a movie in slow motion, I set up my gear and began to photograph them!

The birds eventually tired of a location, and repeating the same pattern of a far off shore flock and string of swimming birds to shore, they would move further along the beach. Repeating the pattern as before, I was able to reposition myself without difficulty.

I can easily say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of photographing the parade of birds as they made their way to shore, the same however, can’t be said for the ants that marched in to my kitchen!