Jill Dening's interesting post about using photography to enhance
shorebird counting reminded me to write a message I've been thinking
about for a month.
My wife and I were overseas in October on a birding/animal trip in a
region where the vast majority of the birds - and many of the families
- were either new to us or close to it. Anyone that's travelled to a
very different part of this country or to another country probably
knows how frustrating it can be. You may not even know which family a
bird belongs to when you see it, let alone which species it is.
In preparation for the trip I bought a new point-and-click camera
(Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 - catchy name...). I got this particular
model because it has image stabilization, 18x optical zoom, is easy to
use (point-click), and isn't wildly heavy. I'm not much of a
photographer but it is nice to get snapshots and, now and then, you
get lucky with a decent photograph. In any case, I found during this
trip that I was using the camera more and more to help learn the
birds. I'd be out in the field looking at something new and trying
(typically in vain) to remember what field marks I needed to focus on.
Eye color? Lore? Foot color? Spot on the tail? Usually what I notice
doesn't turn out to be the right thing... With the camera, I could
take a few snaps and then go back to looking at the bird. This is
_much_ quicker than trying to hand-write notes and more accurate.
Later, I'd work through the photographs and field guides to try and
figure out what I was seeing.
What ended up happening was that I'd learn what field marks to look
for and what I was looking at. So, sometimes I'd ID the bird but I'd
almost _always_ learn the birds better. (I'm not obsessed with
counting so I'm not that worked up about missing IDs but I do like
learning the birds.) The best think I can liken it to is watching a
stationery bird through a scope while working through the field
guides. With the camera, it was much more relaxing as the bird wasn't
going to fly away.
Long story short, I think that the camera definitely helped me to
learn the birds more quickly and accurately. Ah, it can also keep you
honest. It is _very_ easy to remember colors, shapes, and features
wrong after the fact. A scuba diving instructor friend who is a fish
fanatic says that she always says the colors and patterns of fish out
loud (even under water) when she sees something new. Otherwise she
says it's very easy to reverse the colors in your brain. I've tried
this since and she's right. With the camera as a record, I found far
fewer birds new to science on this trip ;-)
For the record, I think a camera is just another tool, it has limits,
it can help you make mistakes, etc. At the same time, I found it a big
help and would use it again.
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