Where to shoot birds in the wild

National parks, reserves and bird sanctuaries are great places to visit for bird photography, particularly if you know what species you are going after and what its behavioral trends and patterns are.

This means research and preparation on your part. You don’t want to travel several miles to a well-known annual eagle-gathering place or a popular bird breeding location to learn that you missed the congregation of birds by a week.

Click here for information on US National Parks and here for Canadian National Parks.

Local marshes and wetland preserves are well-known bird "hangouts." There are several such locations throughout North America, Europe and other continents, where large numbers of birds are known to regularly congregate. Point Pelee Marsh in Ontario, Canada, for example, is a busy resting point on a major flyway. Both birds and migrating butterflies stop over at Point Pelee at predictable, regular times of the year. Another popular bird spot is Titchwell Marsh near Hunstanton, Norfolk, in Great Britain.

Of course, it's not always necessary to travel far from home for good bird pictures. You can usually find a variety of birds in the woods or fields near your home. Many communities have nearby marshlands, always a good birding location. You can also contact local bird watching clubs or associations for information on recent sightings or seasonal expectation of sightings.

USE A BIRDING GUIDEBOOK

Birding guides can be helpful to you in locating great birding locations, in planning your trip and, of course, in identifying species that you will come across and hopefully photograph.

Getting in touch with wildlife management agencies may provide you with shooting locations near you and the best time of year to find different species.

BALD EAGLE LOCATIONS

If you are searching for good spots to photograph bald eagles in particular, there are several North American locales to look into, including:
- Chilkat Bald Eagle Reserve near Haines, Alaska,
- Brackendale near Squamish in British Columbia,
- Klamath Basin in Oregon,
- St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge in Florida,
- Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia,
- Skagit River Bald Eagle National Area in Washington, and
- Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Maine, to name but a few.

THE WILD BIRD YOU'RE SEEKING MAY BE WAITING FOR YOU AT HOME

Our section entitled "Attracting wild birds" discusses the benefit of having a bird-feeder to bring feathered creatures closer to you at your home. But, if you have a fish pond or live near one, you may find that it, too, is a "bird-feeder" of sorts, since it may attract fish-eating species of birds.

Sometimes, the bird you have been searching for in the wilds appears unexpectedly on your own doorstep, as illustrated by the picture on the left of a great blue heron rising up from a domestic goldfish pond.

TRAVEL TO PHOTOGRAPH EXOTIC BIRDS

Many tropical countries have birds so exotic and colorful that you are tempted to travel there just to take their photographs. The spectacular quetzal, for example, is found in Costa Rica if you know where to look. (Want a hint? Try the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and check on the best time of year for sightings.) Costa Rica is a bird photographer's heaven, but many other vacation spots - Barbados, Puerto Rico or Palawan in the Philippines, for example - have an impressive list of colorful birds that will thrill the lucky photographer who captures their pictures.