Just wondering, I have a desire to observe and photograph courting and nesting great blue herons, but have NO desire to buy or even rent the HUGE lens needed to close the distance to their rookery. If a drone is used, how does one gauge the behavior of the herons to determine if photographing is bothersome or even noticeable? What are the applicable guidelines.
Hi Dick. I’m not sure how they’d react to a drone, but I’d be very hesitant to use one as tempting as it might be. You have to go to a pretty expensive model to get anything bet a wide angle lens, which means you need to get close. Should the heron choose to attack the drone, the blades on those things are quite sharp and rotating fast. They could inflict an injury. You’re probably better off finding a roost with nearly eye level accessibility. I’ve seen them on low islands in both Florida (St. John’s river) and the Texas gulf coast and I’m sure there are other places where eye level views can be found.
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Yeah. Sure would be awful if an encounter happened.
Dick: I do fly a drone (DJI Mini 3 Pro) and have learned that nesting birds especially are a real problem. Abuse of drones around hatcheries and other wildlife preserves are some of the reasons behind drone bans in national parks and wildlife refuges. I have flown mine on the Oregon coast where there are significant concentrations of seabirds and IF there are no posted restrictions I will fly over them but I stay pretty high. There are some areas that are posted for seasonal bans but the rest of the year cautious flying is allowed. I did have a bird strike my drone once when I was flying at my house. Not sure if the bird was attacking the drone or if it was a chance encounter. The drone survived the strike but I have no idea what kind of bird it was or if it suffered any damage. I suspect that if it had been a large bird the drone, which weighs in at about 250 grams, would have suffered notable damage. I would not want to have an aerial dogfight with a heron. >=))>
Not to mention that you could have a run in with the police. Just kidding. But a famous wildlife photographer, whose name I can’t remember said that he had the gigantic canon lens on a tripod shooting shore birds at the Emeryville flats (just across the SF-Oakland bridge), which is quite visible from the freeway going east, and he suddenly found him surrounded by police cars and policemen with drawn guns. It turns out someone had called 911 and reported there was a terrorist with a bazooka aiming at low flying airplanes overhead. Go figure.