I’m cranky! Southern Ontario’s annual Owl shit-show is in full swing once again. Birding groups on Facebook are being loaded up with owl photographs and the "likes," "loves," and "wows" are flowing like a spring river bursting its banks.
The problem isn’t that owls are being photographed. Who doesn’t like to see and photograph owls? If I saw an owl while I was out birding, I’d try to photograph it. I might even go see one that was reported to me, so long as there wasn’t a constant crowd of folks making life stressful for the bird. The problem is that some owls are being constantly pestered and photographed. They’re being harassed by the continuous close presence of people photographing them and by some folks resorting to questionable tactics to get a photo better than the last one they saw on Facebook only two minutes ago.
Some individual owls barely get a moment's rest from the presence of humans. Imagine trying to sleep at night with a constant stream of people coming into your bedroom to have a close look at you! I can’t imagine that being very restful or healthy. Yet, that’s exactly what happens to some owls.
And it gets worse than that. Some bird photographers resort to cheap tricks. If they aren’t baiting owls with store-bought mice to photograph the bird hunting and feeding, they’re knocking on the trees or using squeaky toys to get sleeping owls to open their eyes. Get an owl eating or with its big, beautiful eyes wide open and the flow of Facebook likes will explode into the mighty fountain of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan!
Photographs of stressed owls are becoming so common and normalized that new or casual birders might think that happy, healthy owls just look that way. Yes, owl eyes are amazing, but the next time you see a photograph of an owl perched with its eyes wide-open and looking directly at the camera, ask yourself, "How did the photographer get the owl to open its eyes and look at the camera?" It’s not always the case that these photographs are taken unethically. Sometimes, you accidentally wake an owl before you’ve even noticed it in the tree, and some owls are more likely to be awake and hunting during brighter times of the day (Snowy Owls, Northern Hawk Owls, etc.). But if a photographer is frequently posting shots of owls perched with their eyes-wide-open, then the chances are high that unethical means have been employed to get the shots, at least some of the time.
I think it’s the responsibility of an owl photographer to explain when and how their owl photographs were taken: How far away were you? How long did you stay? Did you remain quiet while you were with the owl? Were there other people there? How many times have you gone to see this owl?
I also think that Facebook group admins need to pay closer attention to these photographs and the individual owls that are being over-visited and over-photographed. Posting the exact location should not be permitted, but posting the general location (i.e. Durham region) and whether the owl is drawing the attention of crowds should be required. Facebook group admins should ban photographs of over-visited owls.
Personally, I’d go even further and ban photos of specific owl species with their eyes wide open, such Northern Saw-whet Owls and Long-eared Owls. That’s not their normal, relaxed daytime posture. Sure, there’s a chance that the photo was taken without the photographer “encouraging” this posture, but with so many photos of alert owls clogging the FB birding groups, chances are slim-to-none that they all were taken ethically. Frankly, I’d be embarrassed to post shots of a stressed owl without explaining the circumstances since it’s so obvious to many birders that the posture was probably encouraged by the photographer.
Maybe it’s time to start calling out bird photographers who frequently post photos of stressed owls. Maybe it’s time to get cranky for the owls!
Happy birding!
