Hi all,
In his posting of Fri, 20 Feb 2004 10:39:03 +1100: Re: coxens fig parrot, Peter
Fuller made the
suggestion:
"I urge all birders to get a digital camera and take it with them in the field
for just this type of
situation.
Digital technology is a godsend for birders and birds, in my opinion. If you
see a species that is
rare, a vagrant, or different in anyway, digital cameras (combined with the
internet) makes it
simple to capture an image of the bird, record its call and send it to
colleagues to confirm
identification."
While this is an excellent suggestion and ideal for the particular circumstance
which prompted
Peter's comment, it should be noted that images from most digital cameras may
not be acceptable 'in
a court of law' unless they can be proven to be 'original'.
That is to say that the image has not been altered, inappropriately changed or
enhanced in any way.
Digital images can very easily be changed to show practically anything you
would like them to show.
A recent example would be the falsified photos of one of the candidates in the
current American
presidential 'race'.
In that case elements from two photos were combined to produce false 'evidence'
of the candidate's
supposed association with another person.
The 'trick' was only exposed when the person who took one of the original
photos came forward.
Apparently there is software available which can be used in association with
the digital camera
which will indicate the authenticity of the originality of the digital image
but I think this
software is camera-specific and is only available for a limited range of camera
models.
It is unlikely that there would be any 'consumer' digital cameras with this
associated software and,
in fact, very few digital SLRs with it as well.
My point is:
By all means carry a suitable digital camera for the purpose of recording
photos of birds for later
confirmation of identification.
Digital images are available for viewing immediately and are very easy to
distribute.
But be prepared to face a battle if you wish to use the images as proof of
existence of a rare
species especially in a law court.
Cheers
Bob Inglis
Woody Point
Queensland
Australia
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
