Ethical bird nest photography

[roz_rogers]

I just saw a new photo of a bird nest, showing unfeathered chicks, obviously taken from directly above the nest when the full photo is viewed. There was no mother bird present in the photo. The chicks were way too young for me to identify, but the uploader had made an ID.
Does this contravene any iNat ethical standards? I’m a newbie to doing identifications on iNat, so left a comment asking if the poster was aware of such ethical bird nest photography requirements. Should I have handled this differently?

[gerrit_oehm]

This is definitly an important issue (bird nesting and photography) - I just want to point out, that there is already a discussion on this topic: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/bird-nesting-and-photography/21381/5 and here also a good list of important things to keep in mind (more links in the forum post above).

[gerrit_oehm]

Also, I see that projects regarding bird nest photopgraphy here on iNaturalist include at least some rules such as “Nests outside the breeding season are accepted in this project, even if you think there is no clear evidence that it was occupied. If the nest is occupied when you arrive, a far away photo of the nest is accepted in this project, no need to show the chicks or eggs” (https://www.inaturalist.org/project/urban-bird-nests/terms)

[roz_rogers]

Thank you. Will check out those links.

[ljazz]

If, by any chance, this was mine (I have one that fits that description);
the observation was unintentional, I was looking at moses on rocks by a stream when the mother bird almost gave me a heart attack by flying away in a panic from practically in front of my face. I snapped a few pictures of the nest and the chick, since I already disturbed it - had I seen her before, I would not have approached so closely.
I felt really bad, but fortunately the mother bird returned by the time I was returning by the same strech of the stream.

And I think other plant oriented people might have similar encounters, esp. when looking for small plants, it is sometimes difficult to notice what else is hiding in the vegetation (the event above definitely alerted me to be more mindful of birds dring nesting season though).

So, it is not always intentionally invesive people disturbing the birds, sometimes its just animal-blind botanists looking at more interesting taxa :).

[roz_rogers]

No, it wasn’t you; and yeah, I’ve also stumbled across nests unintentionally … I back away so fast it’s almost comical. It happens.

[neylon]

I guess it depends. I have been in situations where I stumbled across nests with eggs or young. Most of the time I don’t photograph since they’re usually very common species, but if I had something more interesting I’d definitely make a record since that would be of use for the land managers for that site.

However, I also try to avoid much in the way of prairie stomping during nesting season.

[tiwane]

The Community Guidelines ask that we assume others mean well, so I think that should be followed unless there’s clear evidence of malicious intent.

IMO these are best used as teaching opportunities. For example, if I see photographs of an obviously baited owl I’ll write a comment, say that baiting birds is shown to have negative effects on birds, and link to a source like https://www.audubon.org/news/why-baiting-owls-not-same-feeding-backyard-birds No one is being judged publicly, and perhaps the observer or anyone else looking at the observation will learn more and change their behavior. I do something similar for observations where someone has clearly killed a snake in their backyard. I link to evidence that shows killing snakes is more like to result in a bite than leaving them be, and link to resources like this one that provides tips on how to make one’s property less attractive to snakes.