Archive 2019 · spotting animals?

apertur3
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · spotting animals?

Just wondering about everyone's methods for spotting wildlife to photograph. I'm my case, I spend a lot of time hiking through the local parks and woods. I've never thought about it much until now, and have mainly just used the good, old-fashioned, looking around method. I recently picked up a relatively inexpensive thermal monocular, and it's actually pretty neat. I've spotted a few things that I normally would've walked right by, but it depends on the conditions. On a cool, overcast day, it works well, but if the sun's out, there's a ton of heat signatures, which really reduces the effectiveness. I'm thinking these thermals are mainly intended for hunters in the evening/night hours.

Aside from that, I guess binos or a small spotting scope would help? For you wildlife folks, what tools (if any) do you rely on?

May 13, 2019 at 03:17 PM

inthewild
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · spotting animals?

it really depends on where you are. If your in a national park, some animals may be more used to people and you may not have to hide in your car or in a blind. In some other less visited and remote places I've been, you may need to be in a blind so to limit your presence on the animal to get the photograph.

Even in parks, I've found using your car as a partial blind has resulted in much better photographs than going by foot as it limits the disturbance on the animal more than trying to get closer by foot.

May 13, 2019 at 03:53 PM

jdc562
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · spotting animals?

inthewild wrote:
it really depends on where you are. If your in a national park, some animals may be more used to people and you may not have to hide in your car or in a blind. In some other less visited and remote places I've been, you may need to be in a blind so to limit your presence on the animal to get the photograph.

Even in parks, I've found using your car as a partial blind has resulted in much better photographs than going by foot as it limits the disturbance on the animal more than trying to get closer...Show more →

I totally agree. Yellowstone is a good example of the first sentence. Cars make great blinds, especially if you put a white sheer curtain--not camouflage--over the window between you and the subjects to reduce your visibility. Along with this, put something dark behind you to reduce the backlighting of your head and don't make any sudden movements.

Speaking of camo, there is a mass dogmatic idiocy that walking around in camo makes you unnoticeable by wildlife. Maybe this helps in a blind of matching camo, but not out in the open, where you match nothing. Animals aren't that stupid, or they would be extinct by now. When you're in the open, it's how you move that's most important. Study the animal's reactions, do everything very slowly and tangentially, pause a lot, and use lots of patience. Be quiet. Aggressive moves and loud talk will cause your subjects to flee. I have had so many photo opportunities ruined by idiots who showed up and thought they could get photos by out-running sandhill cranes, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope. Spousal pairs can also ruin a day's shooting, shouting HONEY? DO YOU HAVE THE KEYS? DID YOU LOCK THE CAR? BEEP BEEP. DID YOU SEE THAT ONE OVER THERE? ....

If you carefully scope out an area, it often works to to let the wildlife come to you. Find out where and when they habitually show up, then stake out a place that will have the right light angles and just be still and patient. If you don't jerk around, many animals will start to ignore you. It takes a lot of patience, so entertain yourself by enjoying the place.

May 14, 2019 at 01:45 PM


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