Birdwatching / birding photography & Videography tips

Barred Owl

I’m not a professional wildlife filmmaker!

Just wanted to get that out of the way. But, here’s what has happened (besides cresting the hill of middle age and getting into birding like so many others); I picked up where I left off as a kid. Let me explain.

As kids, we rode skateboards and BMX bikes everywhere, were always in the woods covered in poison ivy and ticks, constantly had to be creek walking and catching crayfish, and spent the rest of our time making up fantastic stories about hidden mysteries buried in the forest.

So as I’ve taken my passion for photography, videography, and filmmaking into new territory…it was a natural progression that I would end up back at the source. Nature, wildlife, creeks, forests, the outdoors.

I mention all of this because it directly relates to my birdwatching and wildlife process.

See video below for my - well my ethos - on all of this.

My Birdwatching and Wildlife Workflow

Birdwatching (and wildlife filmmaking/photography) should be unique to you.

Whether or not you do these things with a camera, or binoculars, or nothing…I think it’s one of the best activities to make it your own. This all sounds incredibly obvious. But as hobbies like birdwatching (birding? I use the terms interchangeably) have gotten more popular over the years, and some take it more seriously than others…this is just a gentle reminder that the way to do it is the way in which you find it fulfilling.

I only mention all of these incredibly simple things because the aforementioned growth in popularity might compel people to think they have to “list".” That’s where you log everything you see/hear in an app called eBird. And I used to do that too! I will admit eBird is a great resource and tool that I still use to often research hotspots. But I don’t use it to list anymore because I don’t want to tie any analytics to my passion for birding. *Or birdwatching…see I told you I use the terms interchangeably.

And as I mentioned in the above video, it’s the same as Strava. We’ve been told that the only way to do something is to measure it. To progress. To get better numbers. And I think that mindset, while necessary in some cases, especially in terms of goal setting, can be great…I think it does a disservice to our inner self. One might even say, to the kid within us all.

The curiosity and wonder we had as kids wasn’t tied to apps, lists, numbers, or analytics. We did it because we loved it.

So that’s all I want to say.

Do it for whatever reason you want to do it for.

I do it - Birdwatching, birding, wildlife filmmaking and photography - because I love it.

Here are a couple other of my wildlife and birdwatching videos below, enjoy!