The Do’s – and Particular Don’t’s – of Snowy Owl Photography

Getting an excellent, moral, {photograph} of a snowy owl with out endangering or harassing the fowl is a matter of persistence and respect for the topic. (©Melissa Groo)

Every 12 months, plainly birders and photographers – whether or not deliberately or not – put an increasing number of strain on snowy owls in winter. So we we’re grateful that Melissa Groo, some of the revered conservation photographers on the planet and a longtime supporter of Project SNOWstorm, provided to share her ideas on the way to {photograph} these majestic birds ethically and safely. (There is extra details about snowy owl commentary etiquette right here, together with a downloadable infographic that Project SNOWstorm produced on the topic that’s obtainable free of charge distribution and posting.)

Here’s Melissa.

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Globally, snowy owls are in hassle. A 2024 study partially underwritten by Project SNOWstorm, in cooperation with the opposite members of the International Snowy Owl Working Group, discovered that the worldwide inhabitants is fewer than 30,000 breeding age adults, and has declined by greater than 30 p.c over the previous three owl generations, about 25 years. In May 2025, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada classified the species as threatened in that nation.

There are many causes. The affect of local weather change on the Arctic meals internet is a number one issue on this decline; populations of lemmings, their predominant breeding season prey supply, have plummeted in some areas as a consequence of warming winter temperatures. Avian flu, rodenticide poisoning, collisions with automobiles, and lack of habitat are different causes for decline. Snowy owls face a difficult future.

How can we proceed to get pleasure from and rejoice these magnificent owls by pictures, whereas holding them as protected as attainable? Following are ideas which can be rooted in respect, conservation, and science.

Using stay mice to bait snowy owls (or any owl) for images habituates the owl to people, and raises the chance that it’s going to come to a foul finish. (©Melissa Groo)

BAITING

Never feed snowy owls to get the shot.

Feeding owls shortly habituates them. They lose their important wildness, and start to affiliate all people with meals, inflicting them to fly immediately towards people or automobiles; owls are sometimes hit by automobiles. Teaching them to method people can also be a danger after they return to their breeding grounds within the Arctic areas of North America, the place Indigenous teams have an extended and conventional historical past of looking them for meals and feathers.

Commercially bought mice and hamsters can harbor ailments that wild birds don’t have any protection in opposition to, equivalent to salmonella, which is usually present in pet retailer mice.

If you occur to come back upon a scenario the place others are feeding owls for pictures, refuse to take part. Photograph license plates and other people if it’s obvious owls are being harassed, and report back to native wildlife authorities.

Steer away from owl pictures excursions and workshops that depend on luring owls with meals. Ask your workshop chief earlier than signing up: Do you or anybody else bait the owls that we are going to be photographing? Have they been habituated to individuals by prior feeding? There are rising stories of set-ups the place a workshop chief companions with a landowner—typically a farmer—paying them to feed the owls wintering on their land, upfront of the shoppers arriving, in order that the owls are tame and method willingly when the shoppers are on web site, anticipating to be fed.

Moving slowly and quietly, approaching at an angle, and backing off if the owl is displaying agitation, all can finally come collectively to make an excellent, moral {photograph}. (©Melissa Groo)

FIELD TECHNIQUES

Keep voices low and actions sluggish. Remember that owls’ senses are a lot keener than ours, and being quiet and cautious will reduce our disturbance.

Approach slowly, at an angle quite than immediately, and cease ceaselessly to evaluate the conduct of the owl. Are her eyes getting wider? Is she quickly transferring her head forwards and backwards as if deciding the place to fly? In essence, if the owl is being attentive to you, you’re most likely too shut.

If so, cease, and sit if attainable. Patience is the secret. The extra you’ll be able to tune into her conduct and alter yours to make her relaxed, the extra time you’ll have together with her. Best of all, in case you can {photograph} from inside a automobile, achieve this — it’ll act as a blind, particularly in case you maintain your voice down and decrease motion by the open window.

Never method an owl with the intention of getting it to fly so you may get that flight shot. Rest is crucial to an owl’s well being and survival. Typically in winter, snowy owls relaxation by day, and get extra energetic as nightfall falls.

If the owl continues to maneuver away from you, greatest to depart her alone.

If it looks like there’s too many different individuals current, think about not becoming a member of the gang and including additional stress to the owl.

Never trespass on personal land to get the shot. Landowners might resent the eye an owl brings, which has brought on issues for the owls themselves in just a few circumstances.

AFTER THE SHOT

Some individuals don’t publish the precise location of snowy owls on eBird as a result of they’re a “sensitive species,” that means sharing their location can result in harassment from extreme crowds of birders and photographers. This may cause vital stress to the owls, and disrupt their capacity to hunt and preserve vitality for survival. Many Facebook fowl pictures pages now ban snowy owl pictures due to the strain it creates for particular person owls.

When you share the picture with others, think about naming the overall area you photographed the owl quite than a selected location. Resist strain from individuals who contact you wanting the precise location. You don’t have any manner of realizing how their actions will have an effect on the fowl, or who else they may inform.

If the photographs themselves may give away the situation to others, then keep away from posting them till the animal has moved on.

When you share your picture, describe the precautions you took to keep away from disturbing it. This helps to teach others about the way to comply with moral practices after they themselves are within the subject.

The closing litmus check — in case you really feel uneasy about how you bought the shot, and wouldn’t really feel good telling others about it, that’s an excellent signal that you simply shouldn’t publish the picture. And that you simply may wish to make a distinct selection subsequent time.

–Melissa Groo

Further Reading

Why You Shouldn’t Feed or Bait Owls

Why Baiting Owls Is Not the Same as Feeding Backyard Birds

Tips for Being a Responsible Bird Photographer in the Social Media Age