Modern cameras and lenses make bird photography much easier than was possible even just a decade ago. We cannot but admire pioneers like Erik Hosking and the trouble that they went through to get excellent bird photographs fifty years ago. Now the camera's light meter takes care of exposure problems; high speed flashes can freeze action; and autofocus lenses ensure that each picture will be in focus. Well, it doesn't work quite that easily, but it certainly gives tremendous advantages over previous equipment.

There is one problem in bird photography that hasn't changed with time and that is the problem of getting close enough to one's subject to obtain an acceptable size of image on the film. Many techniques are used to approach birds such as stalking (slowly walking up to the bird), using a car as a hide and slowly driving closer and using hides by which birds may be approached from the sea. Some of these techniques will be tackled in future CAMERA TALKS.

An old technique for close-up photography is to use a stationary hide. The problem here is that the hide must be placed in a location where birds are known to visit regularly. This could be waders flocking together at a high-tide roost, birds coming up to a permanent water hole in the desert, or birds visiting a bird table with food being served at the same time every day. Perhaps the most common place for a hide is near a nest. The following brief account covers one such occasion when we used this technique.

While photographing blue-cheeked bee-eaters (Merops superciliosus) along the Batinah coast in northern Oman we noticed a pair of anxious red-wattled lapwings (Vanellus indicus) in the area. Waiting quietly at a distance we quickly found the nest as one of the birds returned to continue the incubation. In the car with us we had a home-made wooden hide that folds into a manageable size. Holes had been cut for the camera lens in all sides of the hide and the holes, as well as the roof, were covered with shading cloth obtained at a local gardening centre. The hide was placed by a small bush near the nest and one of us went inside. It is very important that two people work together so that the birds see one person leaving the hide. Birds can't count! If only one person approaches a hide and disappears inside, the birds know that there is someone in there, but if they see one person leaving they think that everything is safe for them to return to the area. Even so, one has to be very careful, especially in Arabia. We erected our hide near the lapwing nest at 7 am. Later in the day the sun would have been too strong for this disturbance.

Within five minutes, however, one bird returned to the nest without paying the slightest attention to the hide. One of the accompanying photographs shows the hide in place with one of us inside and lapwing sitting on the nest. Many excellent photographs were obtained from the hide showing the parent returning to its nest, turning over its eggs and finally settling down on them. On this occasion we had a strike of real luck. At 8-20am the first egg hatched! The incubation time is 26 days so to witness the hatching after just one hour is unbelievably fortunate. The camera clicked away. The second picture shows the first chick only a few minutes old and the parent removing part of the egg-shell from the nest. Needless to say we felt extremely privileged to have witnessed this beautiful birth!