Each year I spend some time working as a volunteer with the Sherbrooke Lyrebird Survey Group. My main task is to photograph the metal ABBBS band in order to read the band number and hence identify particular birds. I usually go into the forest with one of the Group leaders who acts as spotter and tells me which bird to photograph. This can be quite challenging as some birds are very shy and require good field craft and lots of patience to get the shot and there are some that we have been trying unsuccessfully to photograph for years. This activity is at its peak during the winter breeding season when males are easier to find and are generally more approachable especially when displaying. In past years I have been one of the few bird photographers in the forest but this year there has been a big surge in numbers. I am unsure why this has happened but suspect it might be because Melbourne bird photographers have been confined closer to home with the COVID-19 restrictions.

In common with most National Parks, there are regulations, one of which asks visitors to stay on tracks and not go off into the bush. Unfortunately, this regulation has been ignored by many bird photographers who have pushed their way off track to display mounds. So many photographers have visited some mounds that there are now well-worn tracks and the vegetation around the mounds has been trampled or cut back to open up clear lines of sight for photography. The Lyrebird Survey Group has a special permit that enables off-track work in support of scientific projects and to monitor the welfare of the birds. It is possible for photographers to get off track permits for approved projects. For example, this winter there was a well-known wildlife cameraman capturing footage for an upcoming Attenborough series on bird song.

This year has been the best breeding season in many years with lots of males displaying and a record number of nests. Many nests are monitored by movement sensor cameras as part of research work into the impact of feral animals and predators most notably foxes, cats and deer. To our dismay, quite a number of photographers have turned up on the cameras, some have waved to the camera while one left a voice message. Females often defend their nest and are highly stressed by these morons as they try to get close to the nest to photograph the chick. One nest close to the edge of a track has had a number of photographers harassing the mother and caused Parks Victoria to close the track to visitors for six weeks. Given the disregard shown by bird photographers for the Park rules and welfare of the birds, it is unlikely to have much effect. I suspect some of these images are turning up on social media websites so it might be possible to identify the idiots who are giving bird photographers a bad name. Pressure is building to have large areas of the Park closed for the next Lyrebird breeding season which would be a pity for all the visitors who do the right thing.

These are really important issues. Leaving aside specific issues such as photographing nesting birds, and call playback (covered in our ethics policy) I think that photographers need to be mindful of the stress levels on the bird at all times. For example, one area that causes me concern is where people relentlessly chase a particular bird over a period of time, forcing the bird to keep moving from perch to perch, in search of the perfect photograph. I think that bird welfare is much more important than photographic perfection, in the bigger scheme of things. Sometimes, we should just move on even if we haven't got a keeper.

I totally agree with the sentiments. Photographer or not, people should not be approaching such areas unless its for specific sanctioned research or for Government management (Rangers etc). I know that in WA Police monitor social media to catch law breakers. If we see any such images on coral media then its incumbent upon each of us to do something about it: report it to the relevant authorities.

It is not just bird photographers - some "twitchers" also ignore signs, damage habitat and generally disturb birds they are not interested in to get to that one "special" bird.
And to be topical - given the number of people who ignore rules around the COVID crisis I think this is a general issue in society