Sand Martins

Yes, they are cute, but I don't like seeing animals in this situation - allthough I think no harm is done to them. Aesthetically the hand gives no credit to this picture, it just makes the viewer to hope the picture taking situation was quick... One bird in a nest is better than 4 in a hand.

Hello,

 

Yes I agree with you that animals should never be mistreated. However, the folks here study migrant birds, and we are accustomed to handling many birds in a given day to place bands (rings in European parlance) on them; take certain measurememnts, and on occasion blood samples. We are scientists after all, and our way of caring about birds (and the environment as a whole) is to measure it as carefully as possible. We try and develop as accurate a picture of what is happening with individual birds as well as entire species....

 

Aesthetically the hand does not work in the photo, yes. See my comments about documentation vs. art. Many of the photos in this folder are here to document the great diversity of bird species that pass through Eilat, Israel on their way north to Europe or western Asia each spring. In all, there are about 5 photos from this portfolio that I think work as something beyond a document...I post these all of these photos to make a different group of people aware of the diversity and (dare I say it), beauty of birds.

 

BTW, I like the raptors (and the Shrikes) the best. I think the best photo in the folder is the male Quail though.

 

Robert DeCandido, PhD of New York City

Post-Doctoral Fellow

International Bird Research Centre in Eilat, Israel