How To

United We Stand
by Dave Erickson, Missouri Department of Conservation

Missourians have a passion for the outdoors, and their willingness to put their money where their heart is has been proven at the ballot box. Back in 1936, voters approved a state constitutional amendment that created an independent Conservation Commission to manage natural resources conservation, insulated from party politics. In 1976, voters supported the implementation of a dedicated conservation sales tax, and in 1984, they voted for yet another dedicated sales tax to support Missouri state parks and soil conservation programs.

It doesn’t always take a trip to the polls, however, to effect significant changes for conservation in Missouri. Sometimes all it takes is for a group of organizations to recognize that they share common goals and to commit to cooperation. The Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative (MoBCI, pronounced MOB SEE) is one such group. It took 2 years of consensus building and getting letters of commitment signed by 29 organizations before MoBCI “officially” announced its formation in August 2003. This “organization of organizations” represents a mesh of interests: game and nongame, hunter and nonhunter, birder and nonbirder, academician and laity. It also includes government agencies with trust responsibilities for birds.

The MoBCI’s primary purpose is to foster collaboration in conserving, restoring, and protecting bird populations. Its guiding principles rest on the recognition

• that bird conservation depends on the coordination of diverse skills and resources,
• that the needs of all wild bird species should be addressed,
• that partners should use the best available science in implementing a conservation strategy,
• that voluntary action and partnership is required to achieve the group’s goals, and
• that widely shared knowledge and information fuels success.

That diverse interests can work together and succeed was seen at the First Missouri Bird Conservation Conference, sponsored by MoBCI. Another example: organizations whose purposes are as different as the Ruffed Grouse Society and the Audubon Society of Missouri cooperated with government, corporate, and landowner partners to restore the dwindling habitat of early successional forest birds. The Missouri Prairie Foundation participated in North American Wetlands Conservation Act partnerships, helping to finance bottomland prairie restoration. In other wetland efforts, the National Wild Turkey Federation restored bottomland forests while Quail Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, Inc., focused on upland features in the same landscape. The cherry on the sundae is that MoBCI established a matching grants program, which members cooperatively administer. As much as $20,000 may be awarded to a bird-habitat conservation project.

Less apparent than the habitat accomplishments but no less important is MoBCI’s vision: we are an organization whose membership understands and appreciates the contributions to conservation made by each member, and we further recognize that by working together we can accomplish more for natural resources than by working alone. Perhaps, this is MoBCI’s most significant achievement.

For more information, contact Dave Erickson, Wildlife Division Administrator, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, (573) 522-4115 extension 3142, david.erickson@mdc.mo.gov, www.mostateparks.com/mobci/mobci.htm.

Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Members

Audubon Missouri
Audubon Society of Missouri
Chariton Valley Audubon Society
Columbia Audubon Society
Conservation Federation of Missouri
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Grand River Audubon Society
Greater Ozarks Audubon Society
Midland Empire Audubon Society
Missouri Department of Conservation
Missouri Division of State Parks
Missouri Department of Transportation
Missouri Falconers Association
Missouri Prairie Foundation
National Wild Turkey Federation
Ozark Center for Wildlife Research
Ozark National Scenic Riverways
Ozark Regional Land Trust
Pheasants Forever, Inc.
Quail Unlimited
Ruffed Grouse Society
St. Louis Audubon Society
The Nature Conservancy
The Sierra Club, Ozark Chapter
University of Missouri, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USDA Forest Service
Webster Groves Nature Study Society
Wild Birds for the 21st Century

Wildlife Photography 101
Article and Photos by Gary Kramer

Editor: Gary Kramer is an award winning and widely published professional photographer whose images have graced Birdscapes’ covers.

Most people know how to use a camera, but the ability to capture outstanding images requires more than knowing which button to press. Taking frame-worthy wildlife images, in particular, can be a real challenge.

Equipment: Twenty years ago, the only choice for a serious photographer was the 35-millimeter (mm) single-lens reflex camera with manual-focus lenses. Camera technology has come a long way—the 35-mm now comes with many automatic features, including the lenses, but the most dramatic advance is the digital camera. With it you can download images to your computer for electronic transfer, printing, or disc storage. Whichever “body” you choose, buy a 200-mm to 400-mm lens to go with it. Pros prefer 500- and 600-mm super telephoto lenses, but you can obtain good wildlife images under the right conditions with smaller lenses.

Approaching the Subject: Get close, which may only require sitting on a city park bench “shooting” squirrels looking for a handout. In contrast, capturing a grizzly bear on film demands the use of a 500-mm lens for safety reasons alone.

Patience may be all that’s needed to get close to wildlife. Last June, I was in Alaska to photograph king and spectacled eiders. Scanning the tundra with binoculars, I spotted several eider pairs, some as far away as half-a-mile. I began a slow, steady approach on foot, getting to within 100 meters of the first pair before they flushed. I spent 2 hours covering the half-mile to the next pair, inching forward, stopping when the birds took notice. Patience paid off—I got to within 6 meters.

Blinds can get you close to the subject. Once, I set up a blind on a greater sage grouse lek the afternoon before the day I intended shoot. I was in the blind long before the grouse came—and they arrived long before sunrise. When the sun came up, I was ready to capture them on film without their knowing.

Vehicles make good blinds. Many of my best images were taken through my car’s window while driving in a national wildlife refuge. Wildlife often become habituated to vehicular traffic on refuges. When using a telephoto lens, a window mount or bean bag will help prevent “camera shake” and fuzzy images.

Composition: Once close to the subject, think about composition. Background and foreground are important picture elements. Avoid subject-obscuring grass or brush in the foreground and clutter, buildings, and vehicles in the background, unless that’s the effect you’re after. Also, when photographing a water or land/horizon interface, keep the interface level.

Framing the subject off-center can add interest to a picture’s composition. To move the subject to the side of the frame and keep it in focus, center the subject in the frame’s “bull’s eye,” then push and hold the shutter button halfway down. Move the camera to situate the subject on either side of the frame and push the button completely down. Rule of thumb: place a right-facing subject in the left one-third of the frame, leaving space for the subject to move into, and vice versa.

Exposure: Lighting is the single most important factor in determining where a photo ends up: on a magazine cover or in the trash. Dark shadows and bright sun simultaneously falling on a subject gives a mottled appearance, which usually equates to poor photo quality. Harsh lighting or heavily overcast days can have the same result.

Usually, the first few early morning and late afternoon hours of a sunny day offer the best lighting, bathing the subject in “golden light.” Early and late light is softer than that at high noon, particularly during summer. In winter, because the sun is lower on the horizon, good lighting may last until midday. High overcast skies with sunlight coming through a thin layer of clouds might allow a full day of photography. Direct lighting of the subject, achieved with the sun behind you, is most commonly used, but back lighting can give dramatic results, particularly when the sun is near or below the horizon.

Lots of Film: Whether you travel close to home or many miles for a shoot, take lots of film with you. Film is the least expensive part of your trip. If using a digital camera take plenty of shots, erasing the bad ones from the memory card on the spot. Most pros find that only 4 or 5 of every 36 images taken are “keepers.” A colleague once told me that the only difference between a professional and amateur is the size of his trash can.

Now, load up and head out.

For more information, contact Gary Kramer at www.garykramer.net.