Understanding animal behavior and it’s role in getting great images

Welcome back everyone. I want to talk a little bit about animal behavior. As wildlife photographers, it is vital to do your research to get a firm grasp of the types of behavior certain animal’s display. Not only will this help you to get better images, but it will keep you much safer.

Why is this important? Say you want to photograph bears in the Grand Tetons but don’t have a good idea of how they act. This could be a very dangerous photo trip! Knowing when a bear is becoming agitated is paramount to a safe photography experience.

Let’s take it down a notch and talk about birds for a moment. There are several things that I watch for when I am out. First is to understand the food source for the particular species as well as any territorial issues that they may exhibit. For example, there are birds that don’t build their own nests but take over others that are already built. Wouldn’t that be a great shot?

Birds in general will always take off and land into the wind, knowing this will help you position yourself in the right place for an amazing photo. Oftentimes, they will also relieve themselves, just seconds before taking off. If you see this, put your finger on the shutter release!

There are also subtle things to watch for that vary with species. The only way to learn about these is to spend the time in the field watching. There is really no substitute for witnessing this behavior. Animals are individuals, just like humans and if we treat them as such, we can see that they may act in a certain way, or not, that won’t be found in any books.

One example that I can illustrate my point is that of Bald Eagle behavior around a large vs small food source. I saw this firsthand while photographing them in Seabeck, Washington this summer. What I noticed is that when food is plentiful, the Eagles will take part in their normal behavior of stealing food, but they also actively hunt the little fish from the shallow waters. As the food source dries up, they become much more aggressive toward each other, often fighting in an amazing display to keep themselves fed. I used this knowledge for the next five days as the food continued to run out, myself capitalizing on the opportunity to photograph the fight.

I also came to see very quickly that just before a fight began, an Eagle would take to the sky and circle a few times, getting it’s bearing on whomever currently had a fish. Once selected, the airborne Eagle would come swooping in with talons extended as a show of force! Typically, the Eagle on the ground would then defend itself by throwing itself into the air, often upside down to meet the aggressors’ talons with its own. This makes for a truly captivating image.

You can clearly see that there is a huge advantage to understanding animal behavior and how it relates to our photography. I encourage you, once you find a particular animal that you would like to photograph, take the time and spend the hours with it in the field. Get a feel for its habits and everything that makes it an individual. I guarantee that this will increase your hit rate and possibly add a few new images to your portfolio.