32 Empathy and Photography
About this episode
A beautiful bird photo should never come at a bird’s expense. Award-winning photographer Kim Wormald shares her ethical approach to bird photography and her love of species like the Mallee Emu-wren.
Episode illustration: Mallee Emu-wren
Kim Wormald is an ethical wildlife photographer with a deep love of, and respect, for nature. Kim’s images have received national and international awards, including Gold Medals and a coveted FIAP Blue Badge. She was a finalist for three consecutive years in Australian Geographic National Photographer of the Year and listed in the International Who’s Who of Nature Photographers. Kim loves knowing that her framed prints bring joy to fellow nature-lovers, and that her images are widely used for conservation purposes.
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Kirsty: This episode was recorded on the Country of the Wurundjeri people. I would like to pay my respects to Elders past and present. I acknowledge and honor the unbroken, spiritual, cultural and political connection that Wurundjeri people have had to land sea and sky for more than 2000 generations.
Kirsty: Welcome to Weekend Birder podcast. I'm your host, Kirsty Costa. It's always a joy to hear from the thousands of people that now make up our little Weekend Birder community. Thank you to everyone who's been sending emails and writing comments on social media. After listening to Episode 21, which features Golo from BirdLife Australia, quite a few of you reached out to ask for more information about ethical birdwatching and photography. So friends, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Kim Wormald. Here is how it all started for Kim.
Kim: Well, I was born in a caravan in a field at the edge of bushland, and some of my very, very earliest memories. One is my dad glinting a sparrow's broken leg with a matchstick, which was pretty amazing to see. And my mum always talked to the magpies and wished them a good morning. And I remember Mum pointing out birds to me and always interested in bird life. So yeah, always been a birder and never far from my binoculars. I loved seeing beautiful photographs of birds. And back in around 2000 I went to buy a camera and they sent me out of the shop with a tiny little point and shoot. They said that would be perfect for bird photography and I couldn't get the shots I wanted. So I thought, I'm just just not something I can do. I just enjoy other people's photographs. And some years later, an email came around from BirdLife Australia and there were these magnificent shots that I sent off to family and friends. And then I noticed that it was all Canon and Nikon and no point in shoots. So I did some research, went and bought myself some proper bird photography gear, and absolutely loved being able to capture the detail of birds, those exquisite little details that normally we can't see. And a long time ago as well, I used to have a wildlife shelter, so I'd see those details, but it was only when the bird was sick or worse and in my hand. But now I can capture those details when the birds are happy and behaving naturally where it belongs. Not in my hand.
Kirsty: Kim's photography credentials are very impressive. Her images have received national and international awards, including gold medals and the coveted FIAP Blue Badge. She was a finalist for three consecutive years in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, and she's been listed in the international Who's Who of Nature Photographers. I'll put links to her website and social media in the show notes so you can enjoy her incredible photos. As a lifelong birder, Kim has spent many hours watching birds behaving naturally. She therefore finds it a bit unsettling to see photographs of birds that are clearly agitated. This includes fluffed up fairywrens and other bush birds that are staring defiantly down the camera or those that are trying to defend themselves and their territory. So Kim is here to help us all become better bird watchers and bird photographers by showing respect to the birds around us. Let's start off by thinking about bird nests.
Kim: Sometimes you don't realise it's a nest until you look on the back of your camera and you see that the bird is carrying food or nesting material or something. And then it's like, "Whoa, right back off. I don't want to be involved with that unless it's something like I'm supposed to be there". Like I was up at Scotia with the RWC some years ago photographing a Malleefowl mound. Under those circumstances, it's a bit different, but I was under my hide. I didn't go close, although some people do. I chose to keep my distance and I got some shots that have been useful and and saw some amazing things. Taking photographs of birds at the nest or birds. Feeding is the easiest bird photography there is to do. There's nothing clever about it. They're sitting targets more than just about anywhere else that you find them that attracts so many photographers is a shame because I don't think most people would want to cause a nest to be neglected or abandoned. And when you're photographing a nest, some photographers will garden a little bit, which opens that nest up to predation from ravens and currawongs and magpies, other birds that are then more able to see the nest. It also a little dead end tracks a great leads for foxes and cats that gardening can affect. Obviously their protection from inclement weather as well, or too much sun or rain and just the disturbance there. So quite often you'll see pictures of birds that are looking quite stressed and they might say, Oh, this one was bothered that I was close to the nest or something. Beyond that, it's also that that parent bird should be foraging for its nestlings. It shouldn't be worrying about photographers. And it's just a shame when they can't get on and do what they're supposed to be doing. And I'd hate to feel that I'd disturbed a nest. Years ago, I would take nest shots from very far way and would never, ever dream of touching a twig but won't even do that anymore. I've been asking more competitions to ban nest shots. So anybody else who'd like to join with that and more Facebook groups, please don't allow nest shots. Some of them say they do because the people use the long lens. Well, I've got a long lens, too. But what you don't know is that does everyone who's doing them have a long lens? We don't know that. And I do think that most people would be genuinely upset if they thought a nest had failed because they're around.
Kirsty: The 'gardening' phrase that Kim is referring to is when photographers or birdwatchers remove sticks, leaves or branches that are getting in the way of them seeing a bird. Clearly it's best to avoid doing this because it can actually reveal a bird's nest to predators. Previous Weekend Birder guests have also talked about what they've learnt about the impact of using callback. Callback is a birdwatching term that is used to describe when someone plays a recording of a bird call on their phone or their device. People usually do this to help them identify a bird that they're hearing or to encourage a bird that they want to see to come closer to them. Kim agrees that this isn't a good idea and she never uses callback in order to take one of her award winning photographs.
Kim: For me, that's mainly for the wellbeing of the bird, and there's some very good reasons why I choose not to use it. But also part of the magic of birding for me is what I can find by being part of their environment, not by tricking them in some way and getting them to emerge. To me, that's a little bit that would spoil it for me. I'd rather miss out on the bird. Like I've been to Hattah-kulkyne so many times to try and find the Mallee Emu-wren and one day find it and it won't be by playing callback. Callback can really quite significantly impact the birds. It can affect their breeding opportunities and the nest viability mainly because the male bird will come out to try and see which other which bird is invading his territory. He can't get rid of them and so the female bird says, Hey, this guy is not much good. He can't get rid of these males. I'll go somewhere else. And just at that exhaustion that they can get to of coming out when they should be foraging for themselves or for their nestlings or looking out for predators. And instead of that, they're responding to callback.
Kirsty: Previous Weekend Birder guests like Mandy and Nicholas have told us that bird string sounds together in order to communicate in their own language. When we use callback, we don't really know what the bird in the recording is saying. It's not our language. Kind of like when you're in a foreign country and you use technology like Google translate to communicate with someone in a language that you can't speak yourself. Awesome if the tech gets it right, not so awesome if the tech is actually speaking in an offensive way. Let's just say I've learnt this the hard way. Kim loves taking photographs of all birds, especially the little ones, and she does this by immersing herself in their environment.
Kim: I just become a quiet part of the environment so that I can photograph birds behaving naturally, not birds staring at the camera with their feathers, fluffed up, looking distressed, but behaving naturally like a couple of shots that really, like one, is a New Holland Honeyeater a really common species that a lot of us are lucky enough to see quite often. But this one had just pulled its head out of a flax lily and it's got a spray of pollen over its head and in the burst of shots, the shots before and after are completely different. So capturing little magic, things like that or like the adult gannet grasping the head of its branching. It was amazing. So I love capturing natural behaviours. I would love to see a Mallee Emu-wren one day. So sometimes I'm hopeful that I'll see something. But if I don't, it's okay. That's what nature has offered me that day or that week, and that's okay.
Kirsty: Kim mentioned the Mallee Emu-wren so I thought I'd pause for a moment to tell you about this very special bird. Emu wrens are found only in Australia, where they live in arid and semi-arid regions, basically places that are hot and dry and don't get that much rain. They are little birds, about 15 to 20cm long from beak to tip, and their tails make up almost half their length. They are called emu wrens because these tails tend to be made up of six feathers which are loose and coarse, like an emu. There are three species in Australia the Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, the Southern Emu-wren and the Mallee Emu-wren that Kim mentioned before. The Mallee Emu-wren is found in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. What makes this bird distinctive is that the male has a sky blue coloured face, throat and upper breast. Kind of looks a bit like a bib. Unfortunately, these birds are endangered, mainly due to habitat loss caused by farming and urbanisation and also by introduced predators like feral cats and foxes, which is a common story that we hear about on Weekend Birder. And like other stories that we've heard, the good news is, is that this bird is definitely on people's radars and communities are working together to protect the remaining populations. A small population means that the Mallee Emu-wren can be hard to see and to photograph. But this doesn't deter Kim, who is maintaining her photographic integrity by respecting birds and by being thankful for what nature is offering each day. Here are some of Kim's other photography tips.
Kim: Well, patience is a huge one. And I'd say not chasing the birds. Sometimes I see people going after them for a shot. I really don't recommend that. Like we've all got enough pictures of furry, fluffy, feathery bottoms and we don't need any more. If you wait, then you can think two things happen. One is you get the chance to be a birdwatcher, which is always amazing. And there's a good chance that that species will move towards you. And then you've got a fabulous opportunity for a really good shot. Probably the best story to explain. That was when I was out with the Hoodie watch team out at Phillip Island and was getting some photographs for them. And so they one of their lovely volunteers was on the beach, you know, just making sure no dogs were off leash so I could relax and do what I was doing. And I'm laying on on the sand a long way away from this family of Hooded Plovers. And after a couple of hours, they ran towards me, straight towards me, two parent birds and three chicks. And they were flying like the wind and pecking and running around. And I got so many shots of them really close to me and they just they ran all around me. They they got too close for photographs. If I'd gone after them, I wouldn't have got anything like that. Not photographically, nor the experience. The more you birdwatch, the more sort of in-tune you feel with nature and you can recognize a likely spot more easily. And also, there's always something in me where if I'm walking somewhere and I could go on a track either way, I just don't make a conscious decision. I sort of make a decision that sort of comes from somewhere else in me and, and I feel almost cold in a particular direction. And so listening to that sort of inner core, obviously listening to birdsong and bird calls is really important way of knowing where you might find some. But not all birds call all year. So it's also really good to look for the tiniest movements in the trees and the foliage and don't look for a whole bird. Just look for a little bird or a little bit of movement. And something else that I've found over time as well is that if it's a still day, I look for that movement. If there's a bit of a breeze, I look for a stillness. Because when a bird is on a branch or a twig or leaves, then that little part of that tree or bush moves differently. So sometimes I'm looking for the stillness and not the movement. And also sometimes it's the shadow. Like if you look at the ground, you'll see the shadow of a little group of thornbills or something that's moving through.
Kirsty: I've never thought to look at the ground for shadows of birds. Put that in the memory bank. Thanks, Kim. I don't know about you, but looking at bird photographs brings me a lot of joy. It really activates my curiosity and all that wonder in my brain. And I really appreciate that every photographer has their own style. Here is what Kim thinks makes a good bird photo.
Kim: Well, I'm a pixel peeper 'cause I absolutely love the detail. I love the detail. So for me it's when the bird does not look distressed, when no flash has been used, when you've got a clear background, I mean sometimes it's nice to have more of an environmental shot. But I love being able to use my depth of field to get the background blurred so that the bird becomes really the era of the image and stands out like an interesting like a bit of an interesting pose. I don't think we need to see birds doing things like you often hear of the four F's of bird photography. They do make great photographs, but I've invented, so to speak, the 'Four Ps' of bird photography. It's okay to get portraits and pictures of them posing and preening and perching. Those things are what birds do. And I don't want people to think that they need to do anything that might not be quite ethical to get a photograph of a bird looking a bit more dramatic. You can get those things with patience and with respect.
Kirsty: Those Four Ps that Kim just mentioned were portraits posing, perching and preening. If you would like some more help with the basics of bird photography, including how to focus on a subject and what camera to buy, check out Episode 23 with Coorena. Kim also recommends having a good field guide while you're out taking photos or birdwatching.
Kim: Well, a good field guide when you're a beginner, absolutely essential. It's such a joy. You go hunting for some new species and and when you find your way around a field guide, it's so exciting when you realize that, you know it's a robin and you turn to the robin section without having to get to the index first. So it's fun to have a field guide that you like and question that. I'm often asked about field guides and I have all the major ones and enjoy them all for different reasons, but do get one with sketches, not with photographs. This me as a photographer, but it's much more important to get one with with sketches. It's easier to identify your species. The photograph depends on the light. So light and shadow. And you might have a photograph of a bird and it appears to have a dark head when actually it doesn't have a dark head or the highlights might be a bit blown on on some part of the bird that make it look like it's got a white wing patch or something when it hasn't. So when you're looking at doing a bird, good sketches are brilliant. Be really open to what you see and being in the moment, it makes it so joyous when something does appear and you get to know the birds and how they behave, which really helps with bird photography too. You know that when, for instance, a raptor poops, it's probably about to fly. And. And you just know that when a birds come down to the bird bath, what it's likely to do next. And I never take photographs of birds when they first come to any water source, let them drink and bathe first. And if they're still hanging around, then take a photograph. I saw a grey fantail fall out of the air as it was flying to one of my bird baths on a really hot day and thought, "Geez, I never know what these birds have taken to get to water". So there's no way I'm going to photograph them until they've had a drink and had a bathe and take my chances On whether they disappear like this Scarlet Honeyeater did before I could get a photograph of it. Also, making our gardens really havens for birds I think is a brilliant thing that we could all be doing and it would just increase that network of bird habitat. So planting native plants and prickly plants where they can nest and really plants where the fairy rings might like to nest and supply water. That's really important. Make sure no cats can get to your garden is preferable. So if you have a cat like getting cateer or keep them inside.
Kirsty: That is great advice. And soon you will hear a whole Weekend Birder episode devoted just to creating bird-friendly gardens. Stay tuned. It was fantastic to hear Kim's professional advice. She's really got me thinking about how we can all respect the birds around us and also still really enjoy those powerful moments. Check out the episode notes or jump on the Weekend Bird website to see Kim's breathtaking photos. You are in for a treat. Weekend Birder is a podcast for all, so keep sending through your feedback and your episode topic requests and I'll do my best to find awesome guests for you.
